Currency Codes (ISO 4217) – Reference for Foreign Investment and FEMA Filings

What is ISO 4217? link

ISO 4217 is an international standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines standardised 3-letter alphabetic codes and 3-digit numeric codes for currencies worldwide.

These codes are used globally in banking, finance, taxation, and international trade to avoid ambiguity caused by different currency names and symbols. For example, the word “dollar” could refer to the US dollar, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, or many others – but USD, CAD, AUD are unambiguous.

How ISO 4217 Codes Are Constructed link

• The first two letters are derived from the ISO 3166-1 country code (e.g., IN for India)
• The third letter is typically the first letter of the currency name (e.g., R for Rupee → INR)
• Currencies that transcend national borders begin with X (e.g., XAU for gold, XDR for IMF Special Drawing Rights)

Why Currency Codes Matter in Indian Compliance Filings link

Currency codes are required in:

• FLA Return (Foreign Liabilities and Assets Annual Return to RBI) – reporting foreign assets and liabilities in specific currencies
• FC-GPR (Foreign Currency – General Permission Route) – reporting currency of FDI received
• FC-TRS (Transfer of Shares) – specifying the currency of the transaction
• ODI filings (Overseas Direct Investment)
• ECB reporting (External Commercial Borrowings)
• Form 15CA/CB – specifying the currency of remittance
• XBRL financial filings – currency of accounts and foreign subsidiary financials

ISO 4217 Currency Code List link

A link

B link

C link

D link

E link

F–G link

H–I link

J–K link

L–M link

N–O link

P–Q link

R–S link

T link

U–Z link

Special / Supranational Currency Codes link

Most Common Currency Codes in Indian Foreign Investment Filings link

Notes for Compliance Professionals link

• The Indian Rupee (INR) has the ISO 4217 numeric code 356.
• When filling RBI’s FLA return Excel utility, currency codes must be entered in the alpha format (3 letters).
• For Form 15CA/CB, mention the currency of remittance using its ISO 4217 alpha code.
• EUR is the code for the Euro and applies to all Eurozone countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, etc.) – there is no separate code per Eurozone country.
• The British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Cayman Islands use the USD as their currency – this is important when dealing with offshore structures.

Useful Links link

• ISO 4217 Official List