Buying property in India from the USA: how to pay for it.

Yes. Under India's foreign exchange rules, a non-resident Indian can buy residential and commercial property in India without permission from the Reserve Bank of India, and there is no limit on how many. What an NRI cannot buy is agricultural land, a plantation or a farmhouse, except by inheritance.

The rules sit under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, usually shortened to FEMA, and they look at your residential status for exchange control, not at your passport alone. If you live and work in the US on an H-1B or a green card and hold an Indian passport, you are an NRI for this purpose.

The distinction between residential, commercial and agricultural is the land's classification in the revenue records, not what the seller calls it. A plot sold as a weekend home on the edge of a city can still be recorded as agricultural land, and an NRI cannot take title to it. Ask the lawyer checking the title to confirm the classification before you pay a token amount.

Inheritance is the exception. An NRI can inherit any kind of property, agricultural land included, from someone who held it lawfully. Selling it later, and moving the proceeds abroad, follows its own rules.

Yes, if they hold an Overseas Citizen of India card. OCI cardholders are treated like NRIs for property: residential and commercial property is allowed, and agricultural land, plantations and farmhouses are not. A foreign citizen without an OCI card generally cannot buy property in India, though they may inherit or rent it.

The OCI card is what matters, not Indian ancestry on its own. If you gave up your Indian passport when you naturalised and have not applied for an OCI card, sort that out before you start looking at flats, because a developer's lawyer will ask for it.

Spouses are a common question. A foreign citizen married to an NRI or OCI cardholder can generally hold property jointly with their spouse under conditions set by the RBI, but the rules are narrow, so get the specific arrangement confirmed by a lawyer in India before signing.

Through normal banking channels only: money sent from abroad into an Indian bank account, or paid from your NRE, NRO or FCNR account. Cash and traveller's cheques are not allowed for an NRI purchase. In practice you send from your US bank to your own Indian account, then pay the builder or seller from there.

That two-step route is how most buyers do it, and it has a quiet advantage: every rupee that reaches the seller leaves a trail from your US account, to your Indian account, to the seller. That trail is what a bank asks for when you take a loan, what a tax officer asks for if the purchase is ever questioned, and what you need to send money back abroad if you sell.

ComplyRemit sends from a US checking account in your own name, linked through Plaid, to an Indian bank account. Add your own Indian account under Send to yourself and say whether it is an NRE or an NRO account. The account is checked with the bank before its first payout, so a wrong IFSC or a closed account is caught before your money moves.

You can also pay a builder's or seller's Indian bank account directly as a recipient. Most buyers still route money through their own account first, because a builder's payment schedule rarely matches the day a transfer lands, and it keeps the record of a purchase in one statement.

Never let anyone talk you into paying part of the price in cash. Apart from the rules for non-residents, an unrecorded payment is money you can never prove you spent, and it understates the cost basis you will want when you sell.

Send it to your own Indian bank account in planned transfers that arrive before the builder's deadline, then pay from there. Start with a small test transfer, check your transfer limit weeks before the payment is due, and allow a few business days for each transfer to be collected from your US bank and delivered.

A down payment is usually ten to twenty percent of the price, sometimes more when a lender caps how much it will lend against the property's value. On a flat priced at one crore rupees, a twenty percent down payment is twenty lakh rupees, a little over $22,000 at a rate of around 88 rupees to the dollar. That is often more than one transfer can carry.

Work backwards from the date the builder or seller wants the money. Collecting from a US bank account takes one to three business days, and funds are typically delivered in India within 48 hours of that debit clearing. Weekends and bank holidays in either country add to that, so a payment due on a Monday wants its transfer started the week before.

The small test transfer is not a formality. It confirms that the name on your Indian account matches, the IFSC is right and the account accepts an international credit, before the amount that matters follows. It also starts your transaction history, and ComplyRemit customers may become eligible for instant transfers, under ten minutes, once they have enough of it.

If the money is your US savings, an NRE account is usually the better home for it, because money paid into a property from an NRE account can be repatriated more easily when you sell. An NRO account is for income earned in India, such as rent, and repatriation from it is capped and needs paperwork.

An NRE (non-resident external) account holds money earned abroad. Its balance is freely repatriable, and the interest is tax-free in India while you remain a non-resident. An NRO (non-resident ordinary) account holds money earned in India, and moving it abroad needs a chartered accountant's certificate and stays within an annual ceiling.

That difference follows the property. When you sell, the RBI allows the amount you originally paid in foreign exchange, through banking channels or from an NRE or FCNR account, to be sent abroad again, for up to two residential properties. Money that came from an NRO account falls under the NRO rules instead.

Home loan EMIs can be paid from either account. Many buyers pay EMIs from the NRO account where rent from the same flat lands, and pay the down payment from the NRE account where their US savings arrive. The guide on NRE and NRO accounts covers the differences in more detail.

Yes. Most Indian banks and housing finance companies lend to NRIs for residential property, usually up to 75 to 90 percent of the property's value depending on the loan size. You will need proof of overseas income, your passport and visa or OCI card, a PAN, and often a power of attorney holder in India.

Lenders assess your US income, so expect to provide recent pay stubs, an employment letter, US tax returns or W-2s, and several months of US bank statements. Some ask for a credit report. A lender may also want to see that your visa or work authorisation runs long enough to cover a meaningful part of the loan term.

The loan is disbursed in rupees, to the builder or seller, never to you abroad. For a flat under construction it is usually released in stages as the building progresses, which means your EMIs, or interest-only payments during construction, start before you get the keys.

Under the RBI's rules an NRI home loan must be repaid through banking channels: money sent from abroad, or paid from your NRE, NRO or FCNR account. It cannot be repaid in cash in India. A relative can repay it on your behalf from their own account, but keep that arrangement documented.

Compare lenders on the total cost: the interest rate, whether it floats, the processing fee, and what they charge to repay early. A lower headline rate with a large prepayment charge can cost more if you plan to clear the loan when a US bonus arrives.

Set up the EMI as an automatic debit from your NRE or NRO account in India, then keep that account funded from the US. Send a monthly transfer a week or so before the debit date, or send a few months at once. Do not leave an EMI depending on a transfer that starts the day before.

Lenders debit the EMI through a standing instruction or a mandate on your Indian account. A debit that bounces costs a charge, adds interest and can mark your credit record in India. The way to avoid it is to keep a cushion of at least one EMI in the account and top it up regularly.

Time the transfer to the debit, not to your payday. If your US salary lands on the first of the month and the EMI is debited on the fifth, a transfer started on the first can be tight once a weekend or a US bank holiday sits in between. Starting a few days earlier, or keeping a month in reserve, removes the race.

With ComplyRemit, a saved recipient makes a repeat transfer short: choose your own Indian account, enter the amount, check the rupees that will arrive on the review screen and confirm with the code we email you. Each transfer is converted at the mid-market rate, the one you see on Google, with any fee shown before you confirm.

Check your transfer limit early and raise it before the money is due. Your limit is shown under the amount field before you send. Adding your Social Security number raises it in about two minutes, and an enhanced review can raise it further, up to $50,000 per transfer. Daily and weekly limits also apply.

The enhanced review asks for a recent pay stub and a bank statement from the last ten days, and a person usually decides within about two business days. Larger requests can also ask where your wealth comes from. Approval is not guaranteed, and if a review is not approved your account keeps working at the limit you already have.

Build that time into the schedule. A buyer who learns the limit on the day the builder wants twenty lakh rupees is stuck; one who asked a month earlier sends on time. Ask for the review as soon as you have signed an agreement and know the payment dates.

Sending a down payment in instalments because that is how the builder has scheduled it is normal. Breaking one payment into many small transfers purely to stay under a limit is not, and regulated providers are required to look for it. If you need to move more than your limit allows, raise the limit rather than slicing the amount.

More than the fee. On a large payment, a small gap between the rate you are given and the mid-market rate becomes a large sum of rupees that never arrives. Compare providers on the rupees that land for the same dollars, at the same moment, rather than on the advertised fee.

A worked example with a hypothetical provider: it advertises no fee but converts at one rupee per dollar below the mid-market rate. On a $30,000 down payment that is 30,000 rupees short, and on a ten-year stream of $1,200 monthly EMIs it adds up to more than 1.4 lakh rupees. Neither figure appears on a receipt.

ComplyRemit converts at the mid-market exchange rate, the one Google shows, and the review screen shows the rupees your account will receive before you confirm. The rate on the website is indicative; the rate for your transfer is the one on that screen.

Budget for stamp duty and registration charges, which are set by each state and together commonly run to around five to eight percent of the property value. Add GST on a flat bought under construction, legal fees for the title check, brokerage if any, and the loan's processing fee and insurance.

Stamp duty is paid to the state government, and the rate depends on the state, sometimes the city, and occasionally on whether a woman is named as an owner, which some states reward with a lower rate. Registration is a separate charge, usually a percentage with a cap. Check the current rates with the sub-registrar's office or a local lawyer rather than relying on a figure you read online.

A flat that is still being built attracts GST on the construction-linked payments; a ready-to-move property with a completion certificate generally does not. That alone can change which property is better value.

Not necessarily. You can sign a power of attorney authorising someone you trust in India to sign the sale deed and register it on your behalf. Sign it before an Indian consulate in the US, or before a notary with an apostille, then have it adjudicated for stamp duty within the deadline after it reaches India.

Make the power of attorney specific: name the property, what the holder may do and for how long. A general power of attorney that lets someone deal with all your property is convenient, and it is exactly what makes fraud easy. Revoke it formally once the purchase is complete.

Choose the holder for reliability, not convenience. They will be signing documents worth a large share of your savings, visiting the registration office and possibly handling the builder for months. A parent or sibling is common, and a lawyer is another option.

Lenders often require a power of attorney holder in India for an NRI loan as well, so that someone can sign loan documents and deal with the bank locally. If you are taking a loan, ask the lender for its format before you sign one, to avoid doing it twice.

Usually, yes, and the buyer is responsible for it. Buying from a resident seller above a value threshold means deducting a small percentage of the price as tax. Buying from an NRI seller means deducting tax on their capital gain at a much higher rate, and you need your own TAN to do it.

For years these rules were known by their sections in the Income-tax Act, 1961: Section 194-IA for a resident seller, at 1% where the consideration is fifty lakh rupees or more, and Section 195 for a non-resident seller. The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from April 2026 and renumbers the provisions, so ask your chartered accountant for the current section, rate and form before you pay.

The NRI-seller case is the one that catches buyers out. Tax must be deducted on the seller's capital gain, and without a lower deduction certificate from the tax department that can mean deducting on the whole sale price. The buyer must obtain a Tax Deduction Account Number, deposit the tax, file a return and issue a certificate to the seller. Get this wrong and the tax department can pursue the buyer, not the seller.

Ask early whether the seller is resident or non-resident, and agree in writing who arranges the lower deduction certificate. A seller who has one should give you a copy before the sale deed is signed. This is general information, not tax advice.

Your PAN card, passport, and visa or OCI card, proof of your overseas address, passport photos, and a power of attorney if someone signs for you. For the property, the sale agreement, the title documents and approvals the lawyer checks, and, for a loan, your US income documents and bank statements.

A PAN is essential. It is needed to register a purchase above a threshold, to take a loan, to open an NRO account and to file any Indian tax return on rent or a later sale. If you do not have one, apply well before you need it.

On the property side, a lawyer should check the title chain, the encumbrance certificate, building approvals, the occupancy or completion certificate for a finished building, and the project's registration with the state's real estate regulator for one under construction. A builder's brochure is not a substitute for any of these.

Keep your own folder too: every transfer confirmation from your US account, the matching credits on your Indian bank statement, the builder's receipts and the TDS certificates. ComplyRemit shows every transfer stage by stage in the app, with a reference you can copy, so the record of each payment is easy to download as you go.

Generally yes, within RBI limits. The amount you originally paid through banking channels in foreign exchange, or from an NRE or FCNR account, can be sent abroad again for up to two residential properties. Other proceeds go to your NRO account and fall under its annual repatriation ceiling, with tax paid first.

This is why the trail matters years before you sell. The bank handling the repatriation will want to see how the property was paid for. Transfer confirmations from your US account, NRE statements and builder receipts answer that question in an afternoon; a purchase paid partly from relatives' accounts or in cash can take months to untangle.

Capital gains tax applies in India on the sale, and the buyer deducts it at source. If you are a US citizen or green card holder, the gain is also reportable on your US return, with a credit for Indian tax under the India-US tax treaty. Plan the sale with an adviser who handles both countries.

If you move back to India before you sell, your NRE and NRO accounts are redesignated as resident accounts and the repatriation rules for a non-resident stop applying to you in the same way. The guide on moving back covers that change.

Property you own directly is not itself reported on an FBAR, but the Indian bank accounts you use to buy it are, once your foreign accounts together exceed $10,000 at any point in the year. Rent from the property is income on your US return, and a later sale is a capital gain.

The FBAR is filed with FinCEN, separately from your tax return, and it counts the highest balance of every foreign account you hold or can sign on. An NRE account that briefly holds a down payment of twenty lakh rupees takes most buyers over the threshold in that year.

Indian rent is taxed in India first, and the treaty generally lets you credit that tax against the US tax on the same income. Keep the Indian tax paid, and the TDS certificates your tenant issues, with your US records. This is general information, not tax advice.