Gift to foreign wife

It is illegal, kindly refer the following under FEMA 1999;Section 31 (1) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 categorically states that no person who is not a citizen of India shall, except with the previous general or special permission of the Reserve Bank of India, acquire or hold or transfer or dispose of by sale, mortgage, lease, gift, settlement or otherwise any immovable property situate in India. The only exception is acquisition or transfer of any such immovable property by way of lease for a period not exceeding five years. The dictionary meaning of the word “hold” as given in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is “ to have or keep as one’s own; to own as property; to be in possession or enjoyment of”. Therefore it is clear that a foreign national cannot hold any immovable property situate in India whatever is the means by which the said property comes to him.