NRE vs NRO: which one should money go to?
Send money you earned abroad into an NRE account: the balance and its interest stay freely repatriable and the interest is not taxed in India. An NRO account is for income earned inside India — rent, dividends, a pension — and both its interest and its repatriation are restricted.
This is general information about how these account types work, not tax advice. Your own position depends on your residency status and where your income arises — check it with a qualified adviser before relying on it.
What is the difference between an NRE and an NRO account?
An NRE account holds money brought into India from abroad; the balance and the interest can be sent back out freely, and the interest is exempt from Indian income tax. An NRO account holds income arising inside India; its interest is taxable and repatriating from it is capped and needs paperwork.
NRI — Non-Resident Indian — describes the person. NRE and NRO describe two kinds of account that person can hold. The distinction is not administrative: it decides whether money can leave India again, and whether the interest is taxed.
Both are rupee accounts. Money paid into either is converted to rupees on the way in, so the choice is not about currency.
Which account should I send my remittance to?
If you are sending your own foreign earnings to India, send them to an NRE account. That keeps the money repatriable, so you can move it back out later without a limit or a certificate, and keeps the interest out of Indian income tax. This is the ordinary case for a salary saved abroad.
Send to an NRO account when the money is a payment to someone resident in India, or when it is meeting an obligation that is easier settled from a rupee account you already use for Indian income.
Money that reaches an NRO account is not stuck, but getting it out again is a process: there is an annual cap, and a chartered accountant's certificate is normally required.
Can I move money between NRE and NRO accounts?
You can move money from an NRE account to an NRO account freely. The reverse is restricted: transferring from NRO to NRE is treated as a repatriation, so it counts against the annual limit and needs the same certification. In practice, treat the direction as one-way and choose the destination up front.
Does ComplyRemit let me choose?
Yes, and for a transfer to your own Indian account the choice is required rather than defaulted. When you add your own account you tell us whether it is NRE or NRO, with both explained in the form, because the two are not interchangeable and nothing downstream can infer which one you meant.