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An institution permitted by the relevant authority to conduct specified foreign-exchange business; its permitted activities depend on its authorisation.
Save conceptAn authorised dealer is an institution permitted to carry out specified foreign-exchange activities under the relevant regulatory system. In India, the Reserve Bank of India authorises entities for foreign-exchange business under the applicable framework. The permission matters because the ability to offer a transaction is a regulated role. The phrase identifies a permitted institution, rather than describing any person who happens to trade currencies.
A dealer handles a customer’s permitted transaction and follows the rules applying to that transaction. It may need to establish the purpose, examine documents, offer a permitted contract and keep records. An institution’s authorised category and permissions determine which activities it may undertake. The RBI’s October 2026 directions place particular obligations on dealers arranging rupee-involving , including exposure verification and maintaining the specified risk reserve.
Imagine a hypothetical importer needs foreign to pay a supplier. An appropriately authorised dealer can examine the permitted payment and arrange the relevant purchase. If the importer also wants a for a future invoice, the dealer must apply the rules for that product. An unrelated online business advertising foreign-exchange access cannot be assumed to hold the same permissions simply because it uses similar words.
Authorisation is specific to an institution, activity and jurisdiction. It is different from a guarantee that a transaction will be profitable or free of risk. India’s broader category of authorised persons also includes entities other than dealers, such as certain money changers. Those categories should not be treated as interchangeable. A direction covering all authorised dealers still needs its stated transaction scope before its requirements can be applied.
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