NRI Buying Property in Delhi NCR: FEMA, POA & Repatriation in Plain English (2026)

Buying a home in Delhi NCR from Dubai, London or Singapore sounds harder than it is. The rules for NRIs are actually well-settled — the friction is almost always in the details people miss: which account the money moves through, how a Power of Attorney is attested, and how you get your money back out later. Here's the plain-English version. (This is general guidance, not legal or tax advice — confirm your specifics with a CA, a property lawyer and your bank.)

What you can — and can't — buy

As an NRI you can freely buy residential and commercial property in India, with no RBI permission and no cap on the number of properties. What you cannot buy is agricultural land, plantation property or a farmhouse — those are off-limits (you can only inherit them). For a luxury apartment, builder floor or commercial unit in Gurugram, Noida or Delhi, you're fully clear.

How you pay — the rule that trips people up

Every rupee must move through Indian banking channels. You pay from an NRE, NRO or FCNR account (or by normal inward remittance) — never in cash, foreign currency or traveller's cheques. Paying the seller directly in foreign currency is a FEMA violation, full stop. The practical tip: keep the trail clean and traceable from day one, because it determines how easily you can repatriate later.

Buying remotely with a Power of Attorney

You don't need to fly in. Most NRIs buy through a Power of Attorney (POA) given to a trusted person in India. The catch is the formalities: the POA must be notarised and apostilled/attested at the Indian consulate where you live, then adjudicated/stamped in India. Get the POA wording right for property transactions specifically — a generic POA often won't satisfy the sub-registrar. This is the single most common place remote purchases stall.

Getting your money back out (repatriation)

This is what NRIs underestimate. Money in an NRE/FCNR account is freely repatriable. From an NRO account, you can repatriate up to USD 1 million per financial year, net of taxes, with Forms 15CA and 15CB filed for each remittance. On sale, repatriation of proceeds is generally limited to two residential properties. None of this is hard — but it's far easier when you've planned the account structure before you buy, not after.

Tax in one paragraph

When you buy from a resident seller, TDS applies on the purchase; when you eventually sell, the buyer deducts TDS on your capital gains (at NRI rates, which are higher — a lower-deduction certificate can help). Hold periods determine short- vs long-term capital gains. Your CA should run your specific numbers; the point is simply to budget for TDS rather than be surprised by it.

The one step that protects everything: RERA

From abroad you can't walk the site, so RERA verification is your safety net. Delhi NCR spans three regulators — HARERA (Gurugram), UP-RERA (Noida/Greater Noida) and DL-RERA (Delhi) — and you must check the project on the right one. Confirm the registration number, the approved plan and the declared possession date before any money moves. Our NRI buying checklist and RERA checklist walk through exactly how.

How Altina Livings makes this work remotely

Altina Livings runs a dedicated NRI desk and is RERA-registered across all three states, so every project we send you is verified on the correct portal first. We coordinate the shortlist, video site visits, POA documentation, payment-channel guidance and developer paperwork end to end — at zero buyer brokerage, because the developer pays us, not you. Tell us your budget, city and configuration and we'll send a RERA-verified shortlist you can act on from anywhere. Start with our NRI advisory, the FAQs, or current projects.