If you are a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) or a Person of Indian Origin (PIO), you can avail of the following facilities without permission from the Reserve Bank:

Deposits

You can open, hold and maintain following types of accounts with an authorised dealer in India i.e. a bank authorised to deal in foreign exchange.

• Non-Resident (Ordinary) Rupee Account - NRO Account
• Non-Resident (External) Rupee Account - NRE Account
• Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) Account - FCNR (B) Account

* Salient features of the above accounts are as under:

• Only account holders can avail of foreign currency loans in India against the security held in FCNR (B) Deposit Account.

Repatriation of NRO funds

• Authorised Dealers can allow remittance/s up to USD 1 million, of balances in NRO accounts of sale proceeds of assets on production od an undertaking by the remitter together with a certificate issued by a Chartered Accountant in Annexure A and B as prescribed by the Central Board of Direct axes (CBDT). In the case of repatriation of sale proceeds of immovable property by NRIs / PIO's, ADs can allow repatriation thereof even if the immovable property was held by the NRI's / PIO's for less than 10 years provided the cumulative period of holding of the immovable property in the NRO Account is not less than 10 years.

Investment in India:

You can invest in:

• Government Securities / Units with repatriation rights.
• Company shares / Debentures with repatriation rights.
• Shares / debentures od Indian companies through stock exchange under port-folio investment scheme with repatriation rights.
• Indian companies without any limit on non-repatriation basis, freely.

Immovable Property

You can acquire:

• immovable property in India other than agricultural / plantation property or a farm house, if you are an NRI.
• immovable property other than agricultural land / farm house / plantation property in India out of repatriable funds, if you are a PIO.

You can repatriate:

• sale proceeds of immovable property acquired in India ut of your repatriable funds, without any lock-in period.
• refund of application / earnest money / purchase consideration made by house-building agencies / seller on account of non-allotment of flats / plots / cancellation of booking / deals for purchase of residential / commercial properties, together with interest, net of taxes, provided original payment is made out of NRE / FCNR (B) account / inward remittances.

NB. All persons whether resident in India or outside India, who are citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Nepal, or Bhutan, require prior permission of Reserve Bank for acquiring or transferring any immovable property in India.

On return to India

If you decide to return to India:

• You may continue to hold, own, transfer or invest in foreign currency, foreign security or any immovable property situated outside India, if such currency, security or property was acquired, held or owned when you were resident outside India.
• You may open, hold and maintain with an authorised dealer in India a Resident Foreign Currency (RFC) Account to keep your foreign currency assets. Assets held outside India at the time of return can be credited to RFC account. The funds in RFC accounts are free form all restrictions regarding utilisation of foreign currency balances including any restrictions on investment outside India.

NB. All the above facilities are available under general permission, i.e., foreign exchange can be availed of from authorised dealers and does not require Reserve Bank approval.