How an NRI buys property in India, end to end

Buying a home in India from another country is not a harder version of buying one at home. It is a different sequence, with two extra constraints that shape everything else: the money has to move through specific channels, and at least one step has to happen in person before a government officer. Everything in this guide follows from those two facts.

This is the map for the whole cluster. The deeper pieces — builder and partner verification, the money and payments guide — go one level down on the parts that need it.

What you can and can’t buy

Under FEMA, an NRI or OCI can buy residential and commercial property in India with no permission from the Reserve Bank and no cap on how many properties they hold. The line is drawn by type, not by approval:

• Allowed: apartments, villas, independent houses, commercial units, and non-agricultural plots.
• Not allowed to buy: agricultural land, plantation property, and farmhouses. These can only come to you by inheritance or as a gift from a resident relative.

A person of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, or certain other nationalities needs prior RBI approval regardless of OCI status. If that could apply to you, confirm it before you spend time shortlisting.

The purchase, in seven steps

A typical purchase runs in this order. The two remote-specific steps, four and six, are the ones to plan early.

1. Define the brief. City, area, budget including transaction cost, ready versus under construction, and what the property is for. The buyer survey is built around exactly these questions.
2. Shortlist and view. Narrow the market to a handful of projects. View by video walkthrough, a representative visit, or a trip if you are making one anyway.
3. Verify before you commit. RERA registration, the title chain, statutory approvals, the builder’s delivery record, and any litigation. This happens before a booking amount, not after.
4. Set up the money. The right bank account, funds in place, and a home loan sanctioned if you are using one. See paying for it below.
5. Agreement. An agreement to sell (resale) or an allotment and builder-buyer agreement (under construction), with payment milestones and a clear completion date.
6. Power of attorney, if you will not be present. A specific PoA to a trusted person in India to sign and register on your behalf. See below.
7. Registration. Stamp duty and registration fee paid, the deed executed and registered at the sub-registrar, and the property record (khata) mutated into your name.

Paying for it: the account rules

Every rupee of the purchase price, and every loan instalment, must move through banking channels. That means one of three sources: an NRE account, an NRO account, or an FCNR account held in India, or a direct inward remittance from your overseas bank. Foreign currency notes, traveller’s cheques, and payments from a third party’s account are not permitted.

Why the source matters beyond compliance: if you sell later, the amount you can freely take out of India is tied to how much foreign money you brought in. Pay from NRO with locally held funds and that portion is capped by the annual USD 1 million limit instead. Keep the bank advice and the Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate for every transfer.

When you need a power of attorney

Registration is the one step that cannot be done over email. The buyer, or someone holding a valid power of attorney from the buyer, has to appear before the sub-registrar in person and give a thumbprint and photograph. Most NRIs who are not planning to be in India on the registration date give a specific power of attorney — limited to this one property and this one transaction — to a parent, sibling, or lawyer they trust.

• Execute it abroad, then have it attested at the Indian consulate, or apostilled where the country is party to the Hague Convention.
• Within three months of it arriving in India, have it adjudicated and stamped in the state where the property sits (Karnataka, for a Bangalore purchase).
• Keep it specific. A general power of attorney over all your affairs is rarely necessary and is a large amount of trust to hand over.

Verification comes before booking

The single most expensive mistake is paying a booking amount to hold a unit and doing the checks afterwards. A booking receipt is far harder to unwind than a decision not to book. Before any money changes hands, confirm:

• RERA registration, checked on the state authority site yourself, with the project’s filed documents and completion date.
• Title and encumbrance — the chain of ownership from the mother deed forward, and an encumbrance certificate covering at least the last 13 years, reviewed by a lawyer.
• Statutory approvals — the sanctioned plan, commencement certificate, and the approving authority, which also tells you the khata type.
• The builder’s record — past projects delivered on time, and any consumer or land litigation.

The verification guide breaks each of these down, including a half-hour first-pass check you can run yourself.

Registration and what follows

On the registration date, stamp duty and the registration fee are paid — in Karnataka roughly 5 percent stamp duty plus a 2 percent registration fee plus a small cess, charged on the higher of the sale price or the government guidance value. The sale deed is executed and registered, and you receive the registered deed.

Two things still need doing after registration:

• Mutation (khata transfer) so the municipal record and future property-tax bills are in your name.
• Possession and handover — for a ready property, straight away; for under construction, on completion, with a snag list and the occupancy certificate.

Doing this without flying in

Putting it together, here is what an NRI purchase looks like when you never leave your host country until, at most, handover: