Despite some drawbacks, the FEMA is a definite improvement over the FERA, Mehta says. Unlike the FERA, violations of the provisions of the FEMA are civil and not criminal offences, entailing much less stringent penalties. While in the FERA, non-bailable arrest is possible even on ground of suspicion, this is not so in the FEMA. The enforcement agency's power of arrest and seizure has been taken away. Also, under the FEMA, an Indian citizen can hold foreign exchange, or property inherited from foreigners or the NRI who is exempted from the purview of fema, he says.