As per India's Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999, a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) is a citizen of India or a Person of Indian origin (PIO) living outside India for employment, business or any other vocation, which would indicate his intention to stay outside India for an indefinite period of time. An Indian would also be termed as an NRI if his stay in India is less than 182 days.

A home loan needs to be paid for the entire tenure of the loan by way of direct remittances from abroad through normal banking channels or from other financial accounts as may be permitted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Generally, payments are done through NRO, NRE, NRNR and FCNR accounts. These accounts may change based on RBI regulations.

Under the existing general permissions available, an NRI/PIO may purchase a residential or commercial property in India out of the funds remitted to India through normal banking channels or through funds held in his/her NRE/FCNR (B)/NRO account. No consideration would be paid outside of India.

No. NRIs do not require any consent from the RBI to buy immovable property in India, provided the property is residential or commercial in nature.

The eligibility is calculated in the same way as is done for resident Indians with a special emphasis on:

* Individual(s) over 24 years of age with a steady source of income in the form of salary only, who
• Are Non Resident Indians (NRIs) holding a valid Indian passportor
• Are persons of Indian Origin (PIO) holding a foreign passport.