New Delhi, Jan. 20 -- India's foreign exchange rules governing trade have long evolved through a patchwork of regulations, circulars and banking practices, especially as services exports expanded rapidly alongside goods trade. That structure has now been reset.

By notifying a unified Foreign Exchange Management framework covering both exports and imports of goods and services, the Reserve Bank of India has attempted to simplify compliance, improve transparency and tighten monitoring of foreign exchange flows, particularly in services trade, while shifting more responsibility to banks.

The change matters because services now account for a growing share of India's exports, yet remain underrepresented in the formal reporting architecture u...