Repatriation from India: Limits, Forms and the Actual Process

Which account the money sits in decides almost everything

The practical question for most non-residents is not whether money can leave India, but how much friction it meets on the way out. The answer turns less on the amount and more on the account it is sitting in when you decide to move it.

Funds held in a Non-Resident External (NRE) or Foreign Currency Non-Resident (FCNR) account are freely repatriable. Funds held in a Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) account are not — they run through an annual ceiling, a tax clearance step and a documentation chain involving your bank and, frequently, a chartered accountant.

That distinction is set by the Foreign Exchange Management Act and the deposit regulations made under it, and it explains why account structuring decisions taken years earlier tend to determine how straightforward a remittance is today. Our guide to NRE, NRO and FCNR accounts covers how each is funded and what can legitimately be credited to it.

NRE and FCNR balances: repatriable by design

NRE and FCNR accounts may only be funded from foreign sources — inward remittances, transfers from another NRE or FCNR account, or foreign currency you bring in. Because the money is treated as having entered India from abroad, the FEMA framework allows both the principal and the interest to be sent back out without an annual cap and without engaging the scheme described below.

This is the single strongest argument for routing genuinely foreign money into an NRE account rather than letting it drift into an NRO one. Once funds are commingled in an NRO account, they take on the NRO character and the restrictions that come with it, and unpicking that afterwards is considerably harder than directing them correctly at the outset.

The USD 1 million facility for NRO funds

Money in an NRO account — rent collected, sale proceeds, inheritances, income earned in India — falls under the remittance of assets regulations made under FEMA. These permit a non-resident to remit up to USD 1 million per Indian financial year out of an NRO account.

Two points about the mechanism are worth holding onto. First, the ceiling is personal, so a couple holding assets in their own names each have their own capacity, which sometimes makes ownership structure more consequential than the size of the asset. Second, the year is the Indian financial year, not the calendar year — the same counting trap that catches people out on the India residential status test.

Current income sits outside the ceiling

The regulations draw a line between remitting income and remitting capital. Current-income items — rent, dividends, interest, pension — are generally treated as repatriable outside the USD 1 million facility, provided Indian tax has been paid or deducted and the position is certified.

The practical consequence is that the classification of what you are sending matters as much as the amount. A remittance labelled and evidenced as rental income does not consume your annual capacity; the same sum sent as an undifferentiated account balance may. Where rental income is involved, the tax deducted at source position needs to be settled first, which our guide to NRI property rental income and TDS sets out.

Form 15CA and Form 15CB: the paper chain

Section 195 of the Income-tax Act requires tax to be deducted on payments to non-residents that are chargeable to Indian tax, and the CBDT rules build a reporting layer on top of it.

Form 15CA is the remitter's own declaration, filed electronically on the income tax portal. It records the remittance, the recipient and the tax position claimed. It is your statement, not anyone else's.

Form 15CB is a certificate from a practising chartered accountant. It states the nature of the payment, the rate at which tax has been deducted, and whether a treaty rate has been applied. It exists so that a professional stands behind the tax characterisation before the money leaves.

Whether both are needed, or only part of Form 15CA, depends on the nature and value of the payment, and certain categories of remittance are exempt from the reporting requirement altogether. These thresholds and exemption lists are revised periodically, so confirm the current position for your specific transfer rather than relying on what applied last time.

What the authorised dealer bank actually does

Your bank is not simply executing an instruction. Under FEMA it acts as an authorised dealer, which makes it responsible for satisfying itself that the transaction is permissible before it releases anything.

In practice the bank will want the Form 15CA acknowledgement, the Form 15CB certificate where required, evidence of the source of funds, and a declaration that the remittance falls within your annual capacity. Where the funds derive from property or inheritance, it will want the underlying title and succession documents too.

Banks differ in how they interpret their obligations, and a document set accepted by one may be queried by another. This is not inconsistency for its own sake — it reflects that the regulatory liability sits with the bank rather than with you.

Property sale proceeds and inherited assets

Proceeds from the sale of immovable property can generally be remitted within the USD 1 million facility, but the FEMA regulations attach conditions relating to how the property was acquired — whether it was purchased with foreign exchange remitted into India, with rupee funds, or received by inheritance. Agricultural land, plantation property and farmhouses sit under a separate and more restrictive regime.

Inherited assets fall inside the same annual facility but carry a heavier evidential burden, because the bank has to establish the chain of title from the deceased to you. Death certificate, will or succession certificate, legal heir certificate, probate where obtained, and documentation of how the asset entered the estate are all commonly requested. Assembling this before approaching the bank, rather than in response to its queries, is the single most effective way to shorten the process.

Tax is settled before the funds leave, not after

The design point that surprises people most is the sequencing. India collects the tax first and remits the balance, rather than allowing the money out and pursuing the liability afterwards.

That follows from section 195 and the 15CA/15CB architecture built on it: the chartered accountant certificate is, in substance, confirmation that the correct deduction has already been made. Where a double tax treaty reduces the applicable rate, the reduced rate has to be substantiated at the point of remittance — which means the Tax Residency Certificate and related documentation must already be in hand. Our guide to DTAA relief and the Tax Residency Certificate covers what is needed.

Remittances stall for a small and repetitive set of reasons: a name mismatch between documents and account records, a certificate that does not cover the exact sum being sent, a tax deduction not yet reflected against your permanent account number, or an annual limit already partly consumed by an earlier transfer you had forgotten.

Compliance caveat

This guide describes the general FEMA framework for repatriation from NRE, FCNR and NRO accounts, the remittance of assets facility, and the Form 15CA and 15CB reporting architecture under section 195 of the Income-tax Act and the CBDT rules. It does not address the taxation of specific gains, the detailed conditions attaching to particular categories of property, treaty rate analysis, or the requirements of the jurisdiction receiving the funds. Limits, thresholds, exemption lists and rates change and are stated here in general terms. This is a simplified guide, not tax or foreign exchange advice. Global Investments is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority or by the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Confirm your position with a qualified Indian tax adviser and your authorised dealer bank before remitting.

How Global Investments can help

Most repatriation problems are structural rather than procedural: money ended up in the wrong account, ownership was arranged without regard to the per-person ceiling, or the tax position was left to be resolved at the point the transfer was attempted. Our advisers work with non-resident clients to review how Indian assets and accounts are held before a remittance is needed, sequence transfers sensibly across financial years where the annual facility is a constraint, and coordinate with Indian chartered accountants on the certification and treaty documentation. Where a return to India is in prospect, we look at repatriation alongside RNOR planning rather than as a separate exercise.