Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (FIRA) introduced by PayPal

The digital payment gateway, PayPal, recently has an automated procedure to obtain Foreign Inward Remittance Advice monthly. It's good news for the PayPal merchants as they can receive their payments free of cost. The aim behind the development is to provide support to Indian export MSMEs to grow their business globally. 

FIRA acts as a proof for the inward remittances/payments that people or companies in India receive from overseas. Banks in India issue the document to the exporters. It acknowledges the receipt of foreign currency in the country by the exporters. 

Before the amendment, the exporters and freelancers had to prepare a manual document and share it with PayPal's partner bank and a fee for the service. Consequently, the bank used to issue FIRA that would take ten days to process, and the exporter has to visit the bank to collect it. But the latest PayPal's introduction of the FIRA procedure is fully automated and will reduce the manual feeding of individual requests.

The Director of Corporate Affairs. PayPal, Mr. Nath Parameshwaran said that the small MSMEs would get exposed to 200 markets having a solid customer base of more than 350 million. He added that though India still fights the pandemic yet the year, 2020 witnessed exports worth Rs 10,000 crores for 3.6 lakh small exporters, mainly artisans, tribals, and women-oriented companies. The introduction of the latest policy will help reduce time and friction in the payment process. The exporters will not require a physical presence in the bank branches, and hence the COVID-19 infection can be contained. 

The amendment comes as a welcome respite for the exporters as they can complete the procedure from their premises without visiting the branch. Hence, the exporters can conduct business overseas without paying extra to the bank for the document obtainment. The paperless initiative is also appreciated as a sustainable solution towards reducing emissions in the environment. 

The user shall log on to the PayPal account and download the FIRA issued by the bank. No need to place manual requests anymore by the seller. Thus, time will be saved. Here are the steps to follow:

• Log on to your PayPal account

• Go to Reports and click on it.

• Tap on Statements

• Click on FIRC or Foreign Inward Remittance Advice/Certificate

• Select and press Download. 

These are steps initiated by the Indian government to ensure that the exporters can indulge in such activities with ease. They need to wait for the document process and start exporting products at a fast pace. It promotes staying indoors and carrying forth with the bank transactions without going to the bank. Hence, the initiative is much appreciated by the MSME enterprises.