How NRIs pay for property in Punjab from abroad

Which bank accounts can an NRI use to pay for property in India?

An NRI can pay for property in India from an NRE account, an NRO account, an FCNR(B) account, or by inward remittance through normal banking channels. Payment must settle in Indian rupees through a bank. Cash carried in, foreign currency notes and traveller's cheques are not permitted routes.

The restriction that catches buyers out is the asset, not the account. Under the general permission that FEMA and the non-debt instrument rules give them, an NRI or OCI card holder can buy residential and commercial property, but not agricultural land, a farmhouse or plantation property. A highway parcel can still be agricultural in the revenue record, so ask for the jamabandi entry first.

• NRE account: funded from overseas earnings, held in rupees, balance freely repatriable.
• NRO account: holds India-sourced income such as rent, a maturing deposit or an earlier sale.
• FCNR(B) account: held in foreign currency, converted to rupees when the payment is made.
• Inward remittance: a wire from your overseas bank, credited in rupees to the seller.
• Not permitted: foreign currency notes, traveller's cheques, or payment settled outside India.

What is the difference between an NRE or NRO account for buying property in India?

The practical difference between an NRE or NRO account for buying property in India is what happens to the money later. An NRE account is funded from your overseas earnings and its balance is freely repatriable. An NRO account holds India-sourced income, and sending that money back out has annual limits and paperwork.

The balance in an NRE account is freely repatriable and does not need a separate RBI approval, though your bank still runs its own checks on the remittance. Money leaving an NRO account sits under an annual repatriation limit per financial year, USD 1 million at the time of writing, and generally needs Form 15CA from you with Form 15CB certified by a chartered accountant.

A separate restriction applies to repatriating the sale proceeds of residential property bought with foreign exchange or NRE funds, limiting how many such properties the proceeds can be sent out for. These rules are amended from time to time, so treat this as a point to raise with your chartered accountant rather than a settled position.

For the purchase itself either account works. The choice matters at exit, so a buyer who expects to sell in ten years and move the money back to Toronto, Surrey, London, Melbourne or Dubai should settle the funding route with a CA before the first instalment.

How is a developer payment plan in Punjab actually structured?

Punjab developers usually structure payment in several stages: a booking amount, a payment on allotment, two or three instalments tied to time or construction, and a final instalment at registry. Arcadiaa Enclave in Mansa, for example, is listed with a simple 25 per cent by four instalment plan. Every plan differs, so ask for the schedule for your unit in writing before you book.

Plots and apartments tend to run differently. Plots in Bathinda and Mansa are more often time-linked: booking, allotment letter, buyer's agreement, then instalments at fixed intervals until registry. Apartments in the Tricity belt around Kharar, Banur and Dera Bassi are more often construction-linked, so a demand letter follows a completed milestone. Which model applies to a given project is a question for that developer, not an assumption.

Do the arithmetic in the unit the seller uses. Motiaz Estate on the Bathinda-Muktsar Road, off NH-7, is listed at a base price of around Rs 25,000 per sq yd, so a 250 gaj plot works out to Rs 62.5 lakh and a 500 sq yd plot to Rs 1.25 Cr, both before registry charges and other levies. Watch the units: a gaj is a square yard, a marla is 30.25 sq yd and a kanal is 605 sq yd, so a quote in kanal and marla is not the same arithmetic. Arcadiaa Enclave on the Mansa-Barnala Road, next to Grand Mall in Mansa, starts near Rs 55 lakh. Prices and plans are revised, so confirm the current figure in writing.

Where does the money go, and does Punjab Roots Realty ever hold it?

Buyer money goes directly to the developer or the seller and never into a Punjab Roots Realty account. You transfer from your NRE or NRO account to the named collection account, the receipt is issued in your name, and the developer pays the channel partner separately.

This matters more from abroad, because a buyer in Brampton or Dubai cannot walk into an office and check where a cheque landed. Confirm that the account name on the demand letter matches the developer or the project entity. For a Punjab RERA registered project such as Pushpa Square, PBRERA-BTI08-PC0390, the promoter is required to keep 70 per cent of the amounts realised from allottees in a separate project account, so ask which account the demand letter points to and why.

Punjab Roots Realty is paid by the developer, not by you, so on developer inventory the price is the same whether you buy through us or walk into the site office. If anyone asks you to send a booking amount to a personal or agent account, stop and call us.

What documents do the bank and the developer each ask for?

The bank asks for identity and account documents, the developer asks for identity and payment documents, and the two lists overlap heavily. Keep one scanned folder with your passport, OCI card, PAN, overseas address proof and bank details, and most requests over the next few months are already answered.

The document that delays most overseas purchases is PAN. Indian tax rules require a PAN, or a Form 60 declaration where none is held, for property transactions above the prescribed threshold, and you need a PAN in any case to get credit for tax deducted at source and to file a return later. A fresh application from abroad takes time, so start it before you shortlist, not after you book.

• Bank: passport, valid visa or residence permit, OCI card (or an older PIO card if you still hold one), PAN, overseas address proof, photograph.
• Developer: the same identity set, the booking form, the buyer's agreement, and your NRE or NRO account details.
• Registry: the power of attorney if you are not attending, duly attested and stamped, and two witnesses with their own ID.
• Every instalment: a bank transfer with a reference number and a stamped receipt in your name.

How does the registry work if you cannot travel to Punjab?

You do not have to fly to Punjab to register a purchase, because a properly executed power of attorney lets a named person attend the sub-registrar for you. The usual route is a POA signed before and attested by the Indian consulate nearest you, couriered to India, stamped there, and then presented at the sub-registrar's office.

The broad sequence is this. You sign in front of the consular officer, the consulate attests, you courier the original to India, it is stamped in India within the period the Indian Stamp Act allows after it is first received here, and your attorney presents it at the sub-registrar for the tehsil where the land sits. Bathinda, Mansa, Kharar and Dera Bassi are separate tehsils with their own offices. Practice varies between offices and some ask for further steps, such as adjudication of the stamp duty or registration of the POA itself, so have your lawyer confirm the local requirement before the document is couriered.

A general power of attorney sale is not a transfer of title in India. The Supreme Court set this out in Suraj Lamp and Industries in 2011, so a GPA with a will and an agreement to sell is not a substitute for a registered sale deed in your name. Use a POA to execute the registry, never as the purchase itself, and have a lawyer draft the wording.

What should you budget beyond the sticker price?

Budget beyond the sticker price for stamp duty, the registration fee, tax you have to deduct at source from the payment to the seller, GST where the property is under construction, and external development charges the developer passes on. None of these are fixed numbers you can quote from a blog, so ask for the current figure in writing.

Stamp duty and the registration fee are notified by the Punjab government, revised from time to time, and generally charged on the higher of the transaction value and the collector rate for that locality. The buyer is also the one who has to deduct tax at source from the payment to the seller and deposit it, and where the seller is a non-resident the buyer normally needs a TAN first. The rate and the section that applies depend on whether the seller is resident or non-resident, so get this checked before the first payment rather than after.

Sale of land is outside GST, so a plot is normally not charged it while an under-construction apartment is. Add development charges, which on the Bathinda and Mansa side run through PUDA and its area authorities and in the Mohali, Kharar, Banur and Dera Bassi belt through GMADA, plus connection deposits, preferential location charges and maintenance advance. Ask for one written cost sheet with every line named before you pay.

This page describes the mechanism only. It is general guidance, not legal or tax advice. Rates, limits and rules under FEMA, RERA and Indian tax law change, so confirm your position with a chartered accountant and a lawyer before you transact.