The Indian rupee dropped again, this time to its lowest level in over two years, as investors reduced their exposure to risk ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting, where it is expected to unveil steps to revive a flagging US economy. The rupee ended at 48.325/335 per dollar, its weakest since Sept 16, 2009.

According to a Development Credit Bank executive, the rupee could move in a band of 47.00 - 48.50, depending on the Fed's plan and how the markets respond overnight.

An anaemic euro and unstable domestic equities, that slipped 0.2 percent in choppy trade added to the rupee's woes. Thus far this year the rupee has weakened by over 7 percent against the dollar and is the worst performer among major Asian peers

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NRIs and PIOs can receive property gifted to them from a resident Indian relative or from another NRI or PIO.

There are tax and regulatory implications however. These imply that the gifted property can only be a commercial or residential one. Agricultural, plantation property and farm houses cannot be acquired as a gift.

The definition of relative includes a spouse, brother or sister, brother or sister-in-law, and brother or sister of either of the individual's parents, a lineal ascendant or descendant or a lineal ascendant or descendant of the spouse. Gifted property is not liable to tax.

A number of exceptions exist referring to the definition of assets such as just one house, that will be wealth tax free.

In the case of global properties a slew of regulations exist such as the imposition of wealth tax that is applicable only in the case of Indian citizens who qualify as an OR of India as per the IT Act.

Other rules cover the various categories of inherited or gifted properties which are specified in the tax regulations set out by the government of India.

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India could become the world's third largest economy in 2011 by overtaking Japan in terms of gross domestic product (GDP).

India currently is the fourth-largest economy after the US, China and Japan. Since the devastating tsunami and earthquakes in March, Japan's economy is expected to shrink while India's economy will grow by 8% this fiscal.

GDP is measured according to the domestic purchasing power of the rupee, otherwise called purchasing power parity (PPP) that measures the size of an economy by levelling price differences between countries that occurs in the process of conversion to a single currency.

Considering these projections, India could now join with Brazil, Russia and China (BRIC) to form a fund to stabilise unstable economies in the Eurozone.

Economists admit that while the change in the rank of a country does not mean much, it indicates broad trends in the growth trajectories of nations. The size of the Indian economy is expected to reach almost $5 trillion by the end of 2011.

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The Reserve Bank of India has decided that resident Indians can repay home loans on behalf of their NRI or PIO relatives.

In a notification, the RBI announced - Where an authorised bank in India has granted a loan to an NRI, such loans may also be repaid by a resident close relative on behalf of the NRI, by crediting the borrower's loan account through the bank account of such relative.

The repayment however does not apply to all loan products, it is restricted to home loans only.

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The Reserve Bank of India is loosening the reins and is now permitting resident Indians to lend upto $200,000 in rupee terms, per fiscal, to NRI or PIO relatives for personal or business use other than agriculture, real estate or relending activities. The loan amount is also not to be remitted outside India.

The rules specifiy that residents can avail of the new rules provided the loan amount is within the overall limit under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme. The loan must also be free of interest and with a maturity of one year.

The loan is not to be used in association with other persons for any practices in which investments by resident Indians are prohibited, these include chit funds, agricultural activities, real estate or construction of farm houses and trading in Transferable Development Rights.

This new rule was announced by the central bank just a day after it liberalised the foreign exchange rules and permitted NRIs to hold joint accounts with Indian residents.

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