Budget 2026 changed the rules for NRIs selling property in India. If you have Indian assets and no estate plan, the cost of inaction is rising every year.
India's NRI population is estimated at 32 million globally. A significant portion holds Indian assets — property, investments, business interests, bank accounts — often accumulated over decades of economic ties to India. The challenge is that most of these families have never built a formal estate plan for their Indian assets.
Budget 2026 made this urgency more concrete. The Finance Ministry simplified TDS rules for NRI property transactions — the buyer's burden for TAN deduction has been removed, shifting the compliance model. This is helpful. But it also highlights how quickly the regulatory environment around NRI assets moves — and how families without proper structures are perpetually catching up.
Many NRIs have a will in their country of residence — UK, USA, UAE, Singapore. They assume this covers their Indian assets. It often does not, or creates significant complications if it does. Indian succession laws apply to assets located in India regardless of where you reside. A foreign will may require re-sealing by Indian courts before it is recognised — a process that can take 1-3 years.
Solution: Create a separate will specifically for Indian assets, appointing a resident Indian as executor. This will should be registered in India.
NRI bank accounts, mutual funds, demat accounts, and insurance policies all have nomination fields. In our experience, a significant proportion of NRI-held Indian financial assets have either no nomination or a nomination for a person who has since passed away. Without a valid nomination, each asset requires separate legal succession proceedings.
Solution: Audit all Indian financial accounts and update nominations. This takes days, not weeks, and prevents enormous future complexity.
When an NRI inherits Indian assets and wishes to repatriate the proceeds, the rules are specific: up to USD 1 million per financial year from inherited assets can be repatriated through an NRO account after tax compliance. Rental income from inherited property has different repatriation rules. Capital gains from selling inherited property must be computed using the original owner's cost — not the market value at inheritance.
Many families discover these rules only when they are trying to repatriate funds, creating delays, tax exposure, and regulatory headaches.
NRIs can inherit agricultural land in India but cannot purchase it. They also cannot buy farmhouses or plantation property. Families with agricultural landholdings passed down across generations often do not realise that selling, gifting, or restructuring this land involves specific regulatory clearances that a standard estate plan may not address.
The Union Budget 2026-27 introduced several measures relevant to NRI asset holders:
All Indian property with title documents, all financial accounts, all business interests, all outstanding loans. This is the foundation of everything else.
Appointing a resident Indian executor and specifying distribution clearly. Consider whether a private trust structure is preferable to direct inheritance.
Every bank account, demat account, mutual fund, and insurance policy. Review these every 2 years minimum.
Know the USD 1 million annual limit, the NRO account repatriation process, and the tax compliance steps required before transfer.
The most comprehensive estate plan is useless if heirs don't know it exists. A family meeting with your CA and lawyer — with heirs present — is the most valuable hour you can spend on estate planning.
For every NRI family with meaningful Indian assets, these five steps should be completed — ideally with a CA and an Indian lawyer working together:
For NRI families with assets above ₹5 crore in India, a private discretionary trust is often preferable to a direct inheritance via will. The reasons:
The trade-off is cost and compliance — a private trust requires professional trustees, annual accounts, and tax filings. For smaller estates, a well-drafted will with proper nominations may be sufficient.
Our CA-led team has deep experience structuring estate plans for NRI families across UK, UAE, USA and Singapore — coordinating Indian tax, FEMA compliance and succession in one integrated plan.
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