Tax efficient way of transferring funds to India by NRI

Income Tax
1

Q: I’m an NRI and want to send money to India—how do I do it tax-efficiently?

A: A friend of mine in Dubai recently wanted to move some savings to India, so we looked into the best way.

If you’re earning abroad and sending money from your NRE or FCNR account, it’s completely tax-free in India.

But if you’re transferring from your NRO account, then India may tax the interest income, and TDS at 30% usually applies.

Here’s what helped him:

  1. Keep income abroad in NRE/FCNR accounts to ensure tax-free remittance.

  2. Use Form 15CA/CB only if transferring from an NRO account over ₹5 lakh.

  3. If you want to repatriate large sums (like after selling property), you can do it up to $1 million per financial year, but you’ll need tax clearance from a CA.

Pro tip: Get a CA to structure this if you’ve sold assets in India—it helps avoid extra tax and paperwork headaches.

2

The query is about sending funds TO India.
There is no tax on sending funds to India. However, if the funds are remitted to your own NRE/FCNR account then even the interest income is tax exempt. Else, the interest income may become taxable as per applicable tax rates.