NRI Buying / FEMA / Loans / Repatriation

Repatriating Property Sale Proceeds as an NRI: Limits, Forms and Process

2026-06-16 · PropXplor

You have sold your apartment in Mumbai, or you are planning to. The harder question is the one no broker answers honestly: how do you actually move that money to your account abroad — legally, fully, and without it sitting frozen in an NRO account for months?

Here is the short answer. As an NRI, you can repatriate up to USD 1 million per financial year out of your NRO account. The money must first land in an NRO account, you must pay (or have deducted) the correct Indian tax, and your bank will release the funds only after a Chartered Accountant certifies the transaction through Form 15CB and you file Form 15CA. No RBI approval is needed if you stay within that limit. Done correctly, the wire reaches your overseas account within days.

Below is exactly how the limits, the forms, and the process work in 2026 — and the few places where NRIs lose money or time.

Mumbai skyline at dusk with residential high-rises along the coastline The exit plan matters as much as the purchase. Most NRIs only think about repatriation after the sale deed is signed — by then your options have narrowed.

The USD 1 million limit, in plain terms

The Reserve Bank of India permits every NRI or OCI to remit up to USD 1 million (or equivalent) per financial year — that is the year running 1 April to 31 March — out of the balances held in their NRO account.

Three things people get wrong about this limit:

It is per person, not per property. If you and your spouse jointly own the flat, you each get a separate USD 1 million window. A couple can therefore move up to USD 2 million in a single financial year.
It is a pooled limit, not a per-transaction one. The USD 1 million covers everything leaving your NRO account that year — property sale proceeds, rent collected, dividends, interest, gifts and inheritance balances all draw from the same bucket.
It resets every financial year. If your sale proceeds exceed USD 1 million, you can repatriate the balance in the next financial year. The funds simply stay in the NRO account, earning interest, until the new window opens on 1 April.

When the USD 1 million cap does not apply

There is an important exception. If you originally bought the property using foreign funds — money brought in through your NRE or FCNR account, or a direct inward remittance — you may repatriate up to the original amount invested, over and above the USD 1 million limit and without any cap on that portion.

This concession is restricted to two residential properties. Any gain above your original investment, and any proceeds from a third residential property, falls back under the standard USD 1 million annual ceiling. This is precisely why how you funded the purchase — and the paper trail proving it — quietly determines your exit years later.

Step one: the money must route through an NRO account

You cannot have a property-sale cheque deposited straight into an overseas account, and you cannot route it through an NRE account. The sale consideration must be credited to your NRO (Non-Resident Ordinary) account in India.

The NRO account is the holding tank for India-sourced income. From there — and only from there — you repatriate abroad after tax and certification. If you do not already hold an NRO account, open one before the sale completes; closing the deal without one creates avoidable delays.

Step two: get the tax right — this is where money is lost

Before a single rupee leaves India, the tax position must be settled. Two numbers matter.

Capital gains tax. If you held the property for more than 24 months, the gain is long-term and taxed at 12.5% without indexation (for transfers on or after 23 July 2024), plus applicable surcharge and 4% health-and-education cess. If you held it for 24 months or less, the gain is short-term and taxed at your slab rate.

TDS — the part that catches NRIs out. When an NRI sells property, the buyer is legally required to deduct TDS on the entire sale value, not just the gain. For a long-term sale the buyer deducts at 12.5% plus surcharge and cess (an effective rate in the region of ~14–15% depending on the sale value); for a short-term sale, it is far higher at slab rates. On a large transaction this can mean tens of lakhs locked up with the tax department until you claim it back through your return.

The fix most NRIs miss: apply for a Lower / Nil TDS Certificate from the Assessing Officer before the sale. This directs the buyer to deduct TDS only on your actual capital gain rather than the full sale price — freeing up a large chunk of cash that would otherwise be stuck for a year. For any sale above a crore or two, this single step is often worth lakhs in working capital.

Step three: Forms 15CB and 15CA — the certification gate

This is the part your bank will not move without. To release foreign currency, the bank needs proof that the remittance is tax-compliant. That proof is a two-form pair.

Form 15CB — the CA certificate

Form 15CB is a certificate issued by a Chartered Accountant. The CA examines the transaction and certifies, on the income-tax portal:

The nature and source of the funds (sale of immovable property)
Your PAN and the property details
The capital gains computation
The tax already deducted or paid
That the remittance is in order under the Income Tax Act and the relevant Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA)

Form 15CA — your declaration

Once 15CB is issued, Form 15CA is filed online by you (or your authorised representative / banker) on the income-tax e-filing portal, referencing the 15CB certificate number. It is the formal declaration accompanying the remittance.

You will typically file Part C of Form 15CA for a taxable property remittance — the part that pairs with a 15CB. Your bank takes both forms, verifies them, and processes the outward wire.

A signed property agreement with keys and documents on a desk Form 15CB is a CA's certification of your tax compliance; Form 15CA is your declaration that references it. No bank releases foreign currency without the pair.

The full process, end to end

Here is the sequence, in order:

Open / confirm your NRO account (do this before the sale closes).
Apply for a Lower TDS certificate if the sale is sizeable — before signing.
Complete the sale; the buyer deducts TDS and deposits sale proceeds into your NRO account.
Pay any balance capital gains tax and reconcile your tax position.
Engage a CA to compute the gain and issue Form 15CB.
File Form 15CA (Part C) online, referencing the 15CB.
Submit both forms to your bank with the sale deed, TDS proofs, PAN and a remittance request.
Bank processes the wire — funds usually reach your overseas account within 3–5 working days of complete documentation.

No RBI permission is required at any stage as long as you stay within the USD 1 million annual limit and the forms are in order.

How a buyer-side advisor changes the exit

Most of the expensive mistakes here are not made at the wire stage — they are made at purchase. Whether you funded the property through NRE money, whether you kept the inward-remittance proof, whether the title and documentation are clean enough to survive a CA's scrutiny years later — all of this is set the day you buy.

At PropXplor, we represent the buyer. When we curate and shortlist premium homes for NRIs, the funding route, the repatriation logic and the documentation trail are baked into the PropScore report — our 80+ data-point evaluation — long before you sign. Your dedicated advisor flags exactly how to fund the purchase so the eventual exit is clean. We bring curated, architect-verified properties to your doorstep, so the asset you buy is also an asset you can comfortably sell and repatriate later.

Frequently asked questions

How much can an NRI repatriate from a property sale in one year? Up to USD 1 million per financial year per person, out of the NRO account. A jointly-owning couple can move up to USD 2 million. If the property was bought with foreign funds, the original investment can be repatriated beyond this cap, for up to two residential properties.

Do I need RBI approval to repatriate sale proceeds? No. Within the USD 1 million annual limit, repatriation is automatic. You only need a bank that processes the remittance against valid Forms 15CA and 15CB.

What are Forms 15CA and 15CB? Form 15CB is a Chartered Accountant's certificate confirming the transaction is tax-compliant. Form 15CA is your online declaration that references the 15CB. Your bank needs both before releasing foreign currency.

Can I avoid the large TDS deduction on the full sale value? Yes — apply for a Lower / Nil TDS Certificate from the Assessing Officer before the sale. It limits TDS to your actual capital gain rather than the entire sale price, freeing up significant cash that would otherwise stay locked until you file your return.

How long does repatriation take once everything is ready? Once your NRO account holds the proceeds and Forms 15CA/15CB are submitted, the bank typically wires the funds abroad within 3–5 working days.