A synopsis of the said Regulations is as under:

In the event of sale of immovable property other than agricultural land/farm house/plantation property in India by a person resident outside India, who is a citizen of India, or a person of Indian origin, the authorized dealer may allow repatriation of the sale proceeds outside India, provided all the following conditions are satisfied:

• The immovable property was acquired by the seller in accordance with the provisions of the Exchange Control Rules/Regulations/Law in force at the time of acquisition, or the provisions of the Regulations framed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

• The amount to be repatriated does not exceed (a) the amount paid for acquisition of the immovable property in foreign exchange received through normal banking channels or out of funds held in foreign currency non-resident account or (b) the amount paid where such payment was made from the funds held in non-resident external account for acquisition of the property.

• In the case of residential property, the repatriation of sale proceeds is restricted to not more than two such properties. Authorized Dealers have been permitted to allow the facility of repatriation of funds by NRIs/PIOs in their Non-Resident Ordinary Rupee (NRO) account up to US$ 100,000 per year representing sale proceeds of immovable property held by them for a period of not less than 10 years subject to payment of applicable taxes

• All requests for acquisition of agricultural land/plantation property/farm house by any person resident outside India or foreign nationals may be made to The Chief General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office, Exchange Control Department, Foreign Investment Division (III), Mumbai 400 001

• The NRIs/PIOs can freely rent out their immovable property in India without seeking any permission from the Reserve Bank. The rental income being a current account transaction is freely repatriable outside India.

A. For the purposes of transactions, i.e., transfer, sale, purchase etc., dealing with immovable property in India, a person of Indian origin is defined as under: An individual (not being a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh or Sri Lanka or Afghanistan or China or Iran or Nepal or Bhutan), who:

(i) At any time, held Indian passport; or

(ii) Who or either of whose father or whose grandfather was a citizen of India by virtue of the Constitution of India or the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955)

B. For further details please contact the nearest Regional Office of the Reserve Bank of India (Exchange Control Department)