Master Circular on NRO Accounts (2008)

6.1 Remittance of assets by a foreign national of non-Indian origin A citizen of a foreign state, not being a citizen of Nepal or Bhutan or a Person of Indian Origin (PIO), who has retired from an employment in India, or has inherited the assets from a person referred to in sub-section (5) of section 6 of the FEMA; or is a widow resident outside India and has inherited assets of her deceased husband who was an Indian citizen resident in India, may remit an amount, not exceeding USD 1,000,000 (US Dollar One million only) per financial year on production of, documentary evidence in support of acquisition, inheritance or legacy of assets by the remitter and an undertaking by the remitter and certificate by a Chartered Accountant in the formats prescribed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes vide their Circular No.10/2002 dated October 9, 2002. 6.2 Remittance of assets by an NRI/PIO (a) NRI/PIO may remit an amount, not exceeding USD 1,000,000 per financial year, out of the balances held in NRO accounts / sale proceeds of assets / the assets in India acquired by him by way of inheritance / legacy, on production of documentary evidence in support of acquisition, inheritance or legacy of assets by the remitter, and an undertaking by the remitter and certificate by a Chartered Accountant in the formats prescribed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes vide their Circular No.10/2002 dated October 9, 2002. (b) NRI/PIO may, within the overall limit of USD 1 mio. as stated above, remit sale proceeds of assets acquired under a deed of settlement made by either of his parents or a close relative (as defined in Section 6 of the Companies Act, 1956) and the settlement taking effect on the death of the settler, on production of the original deed of settlement and an undertaking by the remitter and certificate by a Chartered Accountant in the formats prescribed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes vide their Circular No.10/2002 dated October 9, 2002. 6.3 Assets acquired in India out of rupee funds NRI/PIO may remit sale proceeds of immovable property purchased by him as a resident or out of Rupee funds as NRI/PIO, without any lock-in-period, subject to the above limit of USD 1 mio. per financial year. 6.4 Restrictions (a) The remittance facility in respect of sale proceeds of immovable property is not available to citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Nepal and Bhutan. (b) The facility of remittance of sale proceeds of other financial assets is not available to citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan

Reproduced for reference with acknowledgment — Source: Reserve Bank of India · RBI/2007-2008/242 · issued 21 Feb 2008. The plain-English explanation above is BankPulse’s own independent summary.