Mumbai: Liberalising the guidelines for acquisitions of foreign securities under the employees stock options plan (ESOP), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today (May 3, 2004) relaxed the condition of buying such securities at a concessional price.

As per the existing norms, a resident individual who is an employee or director of an Indian office or a branch of a foreign company in which the foreign holding is not less than 51 per cent to acquire foreign securities under ESOP scheme, without any monetary limit, provided the ESOP shares are offered at a concessional price, RBI said in a notification in Mumbai.

"As a measure of further liberalisation, it has now been decided to dispense with the condition that the shares should be offered at a concessional price," it said.

RBI also said the shares so acquired could be sold without obtaining prior permission of the central bank, provided the proceeds thereof are repatriated to India.