NRI Property Purchase in Delhi NCR — FEMA, Power of Attorney, TDS & Repatriation (A 2026 Remote-Buyer Playbook)
A 2026 NRI playbook for buying NCR property remotely — FEMA rules, PoA drafting, TDS rates, repatriation caps and the Form 15CA/CB workflow most buyers get wrong.
For NRIs, Delhi NCR in 2026 offers a rare combination — the Jewar airport live, the RRTS Namo Bharat corridor running, the rupee still soft against the dollar and dirham, and a secondary market that has matured beyond speculative new-launch chaos. The purchase itself, though, is mostly a paperwork problem. Get FEMA, the Power of Attorney, TDS and repatriation right, and the transaction is clean; get any one of them wrong and you're stuck.
This is the playbook we use for NRI clients buying remotely from the Gulf, Singapore, the UK and North America.
FEMA — what you can and can't buy
Under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, NRIs and OCIs have broad but not unlimited freedom:
Permitted, with no RBI approval required:
- Residential property (apartments, villas, builder floors, plots for residential use)
- Commercial property (shops, offices, retail, warehousing)
- No quantity cap — buy as many as you can pay for, through legal channels
Prohibited, except by inheritance:
- Agricultural land
- Plantation property
- Farmhouses
You cannot get around this by buying farmland in your name for "future conversion" — the transaction itself is non-compoundable. Inherited agricultural land is fine to hold; you just cannot actively buy new.
For residential NCR property — which is what most NRI clients come to us for — FEMA is not the friction point. The friction points are payment channel, PoA, TDS and repatriation, in that order.
Payment channel — it has to be clean
All funds for the purchase must route through one of:
- NRE account (Non-Resident External, fully repatriable)
- NRO account (Non-Resident Ordinary, for Indian-source income)
- FCNR deposit (Foreign Currency Non-Resident)
- Direct inward remittance from abroad via SWIFT
You cannot pay in cash, in foreign currency cash at registration, or via a resident friend's account "to be settled later". Every payment must be traceable to an NRI banking channel. For every inward remittance, the bank will issue a Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC) — save every single one. You will need them at resale to prove the source of funds and to repatriate sale proceeds.
If you already hold an NRO account with rental income or legacy funds in it, those funds are usable for a purchase — but only what came through NRE / foreign remittance is freely repatriable later. This matters more than it sounds.
Power of Attorney — where most NRI deals break
This is where NRI buyers quietly lose the most money. A casually drafted General PoA either gets rejected at the sub-registrar, or gets accepted and then misused.
What a PoA must have to hold up in NCR
- Specific Power of Attorney, not General — name the exact survey / khasra / flat number, the exact tower and project, and the exact acts (signing the sale deed, taking possession, registering the property, applying for a loan, representing before RERA).
- Notarised in the country of residence — by a Notary Public where you are resident.
- Apostilled (if you're in a Hague Convention country — UK, Singapore, UAE, US, Canada, most of Europe) or consular-attested at the Indian Embassy / Consulate (if the country isn't a Hague signatory).
- Adjudicated in India within 3 months of arrival — paid stamp duty at the relevant sub-registrar, usually ₹100-500 depending on the state, and registered.
- Expiry date — don't leave it open-ended. A PoA with a 12-24 month expiry is cleaner.
Appoint someone you trust. Not the broker, not the builder's agent, not a distant cousin you haven't spoken to in a decade. A parent, a sibling, or a senior professional (your CA or lawyer in India) are the safe options.
TDS — the number that catches buyers off-guard
This is the rule NRI buyers get wrong most often, especially on resale purchases.
If the seller is resident Indian
- Buyer deducts 1% TDS if the property value is above ₹50 lakh.
- File Form 26QB within 30 days of payment.
If the seller is an NRI — TDS is far higher
- For long-term capital gains (property held >24 months): 12.5% plus applicable surcharge and 4% cess — applied to the entire sale consideration, not just the capital gain, unless the seller produces a Lower Deduction Certificate under Section 197.
- For short-term capital gains (property held under 24 months): 30% plus surcharge and cess — again, on the full sale consideration.
On a ₹2 crore resale from an NRI seller, at 12.5% plus 15% surcharge and 4% cess, the TDS is roughly ₹30 lakh parked with the tax department until the seller sorts out the final tax liability through a return. Buyers who miss this — and there are many — become liable for the shortfall themselves, plus interest and penalty.
Practical fix: insist the NRI seller applies for a Section 197 Lower Deduction Certificate before the transaction. It takes 4-8 weeks and reduces TDS to the actual tax liability on the gain — sometimes as low as 2-4%. Until the certificate arrives, don't close.
Repatriation — getting money back out
Two separate routes, with different ceilings:
NRE route (fully repatriable)
If you bought the property originally using NRE / foreign remittance funds, and it's residential, you can repatriate the sale proceeds of up to two residential properties in your lifetime, fully, without annual caps.
NRO route (capped)
If funds came through NRO — rental income, legacy money, inherited property — sale proceeds go into NRO and are repatriable up to USD 1 million per financial year, with CA certification.
For any outward remittance above ₹5 lakh from NRO:
- Form 15CA (self-declaration by remitter)
- Form 15CB (CA certificate confirming tax compliance)
Both forms are filed on the income tax portal. Your bank will not release the remittance without them. Budget ₹15,000-40,000 in CA fees for a single large repatriation; it is worth it to do this right.
NRI home loans
Most PSU and private banks in India offer NRI home loans. 2026 snapshot:
| Parameter | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Max LTV | 75-80% |
| Tenure | Up to 30 years, or retirement age (whichever earlier) |
| ROI | Usually 25-50 bps above resident rates |
| EMI repayment | Only from NRE / NRO / inward remittance |
| Documents | Passport, visa, OCI card, overseas employment / salary proof, overseas bank statements, Indian PAN |
Process is entirely remote for most mainstream lenders — HDFC, SBI, ICICI, LIC Housing all run NRI desks with digital onboarding. The sanction timeline is typically 10-20 working days once all documents are in. Our companion home-loan eligibility guide covers the FOIR and LTV math that applies equally to NRI files.
Stamp duty — no NRI premium
Contrary to what some brokers imply, there is no NRI-specific stamp duty. You pay whatever a resident would pay in that state:
| State | Stamp duty (2026) |
|---|---|
| Uttar Pradesh (Noida, Ghaziabad) | 7% (men); 6% + ₹10,000 discount (women, up to ₹1 Cr) |
| Haryana (Gurugram, Faridabad) | 5-7% depending on jurisdiction and gender |
| Delhi | 6% (men); 4% (women) |
Registration charge is 1% on top in all three, subject to small caps. If you register in a woman family member's name, you save 1-2% — legal, common, and worth doing.
Why 2026 is interesting for NRI buyers
Three structural factors converging:
- Jewar Airport (Noida International) operating, driving a secular re-rate in YEIDA-belt land and Greater Noida — see our Jewar airport investment guide for the numbers.
- Namo Bharat RRTS running between Delhi and Meerut, collapsing commute times across Ghaziabad and Indirapuram.
- Rupee weakness — dollar / dirham / pound holdings stretch further than they did three years ago; the effective purchase price in foreign-currency terms is meaningfully lower.
The combination is unusual and time-bound. It won't last.
Bottom line
- FEMA permits residential and commercial, bans agricultural / farmhouse outside inheritance — don't try to get cute.
- All funds must route through NRE / NRO / FCNR / inward remittance — save every FIRC, forever.
- Get the PoA right: Specific, apostilled / consular-attested, adjudicated in India, expiry-dated.
- If buying from an NRI seller, insist on a Section 197 Lower Deduction Certificate before closing — the default 12.5% / 30% TDS on full consideration is brutal.
- Repatriation caps: 2 residential properties lifetime on NRE funds; USD 1 M per FY on NRO with 15CA/15CB.
- No NRI stamp duty premium — register in a woman family member's name in UP / Delhi to save 1-2%.
We run end-to-end remote NRI transactions — RERA and title verification, PoA drafting coordination with your consulate, site video walk-throughs, bank NRI-desk introductions, and sub-registrar attendance on your behalf. See the current inventory we've vetted, the companion flat-buying checklist and home-loan guide, and write to us with your timeline and budget — we'll come back with a clean, numbers-first shortlist and a transaction plan you can action from wherever you are.