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Repatriation of Assets from India – N D Savla & Associates
NRI & OCI Advisory

Repatriation of Assets from India
USD One Million Scheme, Form 15CA & 15CB, NRO Outward Remittance, Inherited Property & Capital Gains Transfer

Structured cross-border outward remittance advisory under FEMA and the Income Tax Act — NRO / NRE / FCNR account scoping, USD one million scheme planning, Section 195 TDS and DTAA treaty rate, Form 15CB certification, Form 15CA filing, and Authorised Dealer bank SWIFT coordination, all under one roof.

Part of our NRI Tax Filing practice: NRI Tax Filing Form 15CA-15CB FEMA India Rules DTAA Benefits

Overview

What Is Repatriation of Assets from India?

Repatriation of assets from India is the process of transferring funds from an Indian bank account to a foreign bank account held by the same NRI, OCI card holder, or PIO in the country of residence. Without repatriation, sale proceeds, rental income, dividends, capital gains, and inheritance amounts stay trapped in India indefinitely. The process is an outward remittance under the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 and operates through Authorised Dealer banks under RBI Master Directions.

Three statutory pillars govern every repatriation transaction simultaneously: FEMA 1999 and the RBI Master Directions on Remittance of Assets; the Income Tax Act 1961 — specifically Section 195 TDS, Section 197 Lower Deduction Certificate, and Section 90 DTAA application; and Rule 37BB of the Income Tax Rules governing Form 15CA and Form 15CB. The repatriation route also depends entirely on the source account — NRE and FCNR balances are fully repatriable without any monetary cap, while NRO balances are subject to the USD one million scheme per financial year.

N D Savla & Associates handles every angle of repatriation — NRO / NRE / FCNR account scoping, USD one million scheme bandwidth planning, Section 195 TDS computation with DTAA treaty rate reduction, Section 197 Lower Deduction Certificate applications, Form 15CB Chartered Accountant certification, Form 15CA e-filing, and direct Authorised Dealer bank coordination. Our practice connects with the wider NRI Tax Filing framework — Form 15CA-15CB filing, DTAA benefits, and FEMA India rules.

Every repatriation engagement starts with a scoping check — source account, nature of funds, taxability under Indian law, and DTAA availability — before any documentation is prepared. Getting the sequence wrong causes Authorised Dealer bank rejection and delays the SWIFT transfer by weeks.

Common NRI Repatriation Profiles

When Does Repatriation Advisory Become Critical?

Repatriation planning is relevant for every NRI with Indian assets, but there are specific profiles where the right documentation sequence materially changes the tax outcome and the speed of the SWIFT transfer:

NRI Selling Indian Residential or Commercial Property

Property sale proceeds land in the NRO account and attract Section 195 TDS and capital gains tax. DTAA documentation at the outset — TRC, Form 10F, Section 197 Lower Deduction Certificate — prevents over-deduction and reduces the refund wait.

OCI Card Holder Repatriating Inherited Indian Assets

Inherited property and asset repatriation follows the USD one million scheme with full documentation — death certificate, will or succession certificate, sale deed, and capital gains computation using the deceased's cost base. Multiple legal heirs each get separate USD one million bandwidth.

NRI Repatriating Accumulated NRO Rental Income

Accumulated NRO rental income sits inside the USD one million annual cap. Section 195 TDS at source must reconcile with the actual tax liability, and DTAA treaty-rate documentation reduces the deduction. Form 15CB certifies the rental income computation before the SWIFT transfer.

NRI Repatriating Indian Mutual Fund or Listed Equity Gains

Capital gains on mutual fund redemptions and listed equity sales carry distinct tax rates — Section 112A for listed equity LTCG, full STCG rates otherwise. DTAA application at the broker level and Form 15CB certification must reflect the correct capital gains computation before any NRO transfer.

Gulf-Region NRI Repatriating NRE or FCNR Balances

NRE and FCNR balances are fully repatriable without the USD one million cap — the cleanest repatriation route. UAE has limited DTAA scope on certain income heads, making NRE and FCNR the preferred route for Gulf-region NRIs winding down Indian banking positions.

Returning Indian Completing Pre-Return NRO Repatriation

Once a returning Indian becomes Resident under FEMA, the USD one million scheme stops applying and LRS takes over at a lower annual limit with TCS implications. Completing major NRO repatriation in the pre-return months preserves the full USD one million bandwidth while still NRI under FEMA.

Our Services

Our Repatriation of Assets Advisory Services

Our repatriation practice follows a structured eight-step workflow — source scoping, DTAA coordination, Section 197 application, TDS computation, Form 15CB issuance, Form 15CA filing, AD bank coordination, and post-remittance return disclosure. The six service blocks below cover the end-to-end engagement.

01

Source-of-Funds Scoping & Account Type Analysis — NRE, FCNR, NRO

The repatriation route, the applicable cap, the Form 15CB requirement, and the DTAA strategy all change with the source account. NRE and FCNR balances are fully repatriable without any monetary limit — NRE because credits originally came from foreign currency remitted to India, and FCNR because the deposit itself stays in foreign currency. NRO balances are capped under the USD one million scheme and require full Form 15CA and Form 15CB documentation for material transfers. We begin every repatriation engagement by mapping the source account and the nature of underlying funds — foreign-earned or Indian-sourced — before any documentation is prepared. Where the NRI has deposited foreign-earned funds into NRO by mistake, we identify the correction and advise on appropriate NRE routing going forward, preserving future repatriation bandwidth.
FEMA 1999 · RBI Master Directions on Remittance of Assets
02

USD One Million Scheme Planning & Multi-Year NRO Repatriation Strategy

The USD one million scheme allows NRO repatriation of up to one million US Dollars per financial year per individual — covering sale proceeds of Indian property, accumulated rental income, mutual fund and equity redemptions, inheritance amounts, gifts, and similar heads. The limit resets every April. Joint NRO account holders each receive a separate limit, and multiple legal heirs inheriting a single property each get separate limits — structuring repatriation across eligible family members can move substantial amounts within the statutory framework. Where the repatriation amount exceeds the annual limit, we plan a multi-year schedule across successive financial years, eliminating the need for RBI special-permission applications. For returning Indians, we identify the FEMA Resident-shift date and build the NRO repatriation calendar so the bulk of the outward remittance happens in the pre-return months under the USD one million scheme.
USD One Million Scheme · FEMA 1999
03

Section 195 TDS, DTAA Treaty Rate & Section 197 Lower Deduction Certificate

Section 195 of the Income Tax Act requires the remitter — the property buyer, tenant, or dividend-paying company — to deduct TDS at the applicable rate before transferring funds to the NRI. The default rate is the higher domestic rate, which the NRI can reduce to the lower DTAA treaty rate by furnishing a Tax Residency Certificate, Form 10F filed on the Income Tax e-filing portal, and a self-declaration on permanent establishment status. We coordinate the Tax Residency Certificate and file Form 10F before the transaction closes. Where the actual tax liability is materially lower than the Section 195 default, we apply for a Section 197 Lower Deduction Certificate from the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer in advance — preventing excess TDS deduction at source and avoiding the multi-month refund cycle. Our DTAA service selects the correct treaty — US-India, UK-India, Canada-India, Australia-India, Singapore-India — and applies it across the capital gains and income computation.
Income Tax Act – Section 195, 197, 90
04

Capital Gains Computation — Property, Shares, Mutual Funds & Inherited Assets

Every Form 15CB certification begins with an accurate capital gains computation — the foundation of the TDS deduction and the DTAA application. For Indian property sales, we compute long-term or short-term capital gains with indexation benefit where eligible, and we check the Section 54 or Section 54F reinvestment exemption position before locking in the taxable gain. For inherited assets, the cost of acquisition is the deceased's original cost, and the holding period runs from the deceased's acquisition date — indexation benefit typically goes back years or decades, materially reducing the taxable gain. For mutual fund and listed equity transactions, we apply Section 112A LTCG treatment for qualifying long-term listed equity gains, and standard short-term or long-term rates for debt funds, unlisted equity, and other capital assets. The final computation feeds directly into the Form 15CB certification.
Income Tax Act – Section 48, 49, 54, 54F, 112A
05

Form 15CB Chartered Accountant Certification & Form 15CA E-Filing

Form 15CB is the Chartered Accountant certificate that confirms applicable Indian taxes have been paid before the SWIFT transfer is processed. The certificate covers the nature of remittance, the capital gains or income computation, the Section 195 TDS deduction, the DTAA article applied, the Tax Residency Certificate details, and the tax payment evidence — making it the most technically demanding document in the repatriation chain. Form 15CB is issued first, generating an Acknowledgement Number on the Income Tax e-filing portal. The remitter then uses this Acknowledgement Number to file Form 15CA Part C electronically. For smaller transfers below the threshold or for pure capital remittances from NRE or FCNR, Form 15CA Part A or Part D suffices without a Form 15CB. Our team handles both forms across dozens of repatriation certifications every month, and our dedicated Form 15CA-15CB service covers the full certification workflow.
Income Tax Act – Section 195 · Rule 37BB · Form 15CA / 15CB
06

Authorised Dealer Bank Coordination, SWIFT Remittance & Return Disclosure

After Form 15CA and Form 15CB are in order, we coordinate directly with the NRI's Authorised Dealer bank — submitting the completed forms, source-of-funds documentation, the remittance application (Form A2), and the foreign bank account details (IBAN, SWIFT BIC). The AD bank verifies the documents, confirms FEMA permissibility, and processes the SWIFT MT103 transfer to the beneficiary's foreign account. We track the SWIFT confirmation and capture the bank's outward remittance certificate for the NRI's records. Post-remittance, we disclose the transaction in the relevant Indian income tax return where required and reconcile the Form 26AS TDS entries against the computation. The repatriation engagement closes with a clean audit trail — SWIFT confirmation, Form 15CA acknowledgement, Form 15CB certificate, and tax return disclosure — all co-ordinated by our team, not the NRI. Our Filing Return of Income in India service handles the return disclosure step.

Broader Practice

Our Broader NRI Tax and Repatriation Compliance Services

Repatriation of assets is the outward-remittance step — but it operates inside a wider NRI compliance map covering the Indian tax return, FEMA banking, and cross-border treaty application. Our complete practice covers:

NRI Tax FilingHub page for every NRI tax and repatriation service under one framework.
Form 15CA-15CB FilingDedicated certification service — the documentation backbone of every repatriation.
Filing Return of Income in IndiaIndian return where repatriation capital gains and TDS credits are reported.
DTAA BenefitsTreaty rate application on Section 195 TDS — US, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, Singapore.
Tax Residency Certificate (TRC)TRC procurement and Form 10F — prerequisites for DTAA rate reduction at source.
FEMA India Rules for NRIFEMA framework for NRE, NRO, and FCNR accounts and outward remittance.
InheritanceInheritance planning and succession documentation for OCI and NRI asset repatriation.
Returning IndianPre-return NRO repatriation — preserving USD one million bandwidth before FEMA shift.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Questions on Repatriation of Assets from India

What is repatriation of assets from India for an NRI?
Repatriation of assets is the process of transferring funds from an Indian bank account to a foreign bank account in the NRI's country of residence. The framework operates under FEMA 1999, RBI Master Directions, and the Income Tax Act 1961. NRE and FCNR accounts are fully repatriable without any monetary limit. NRO accounts are subject to the USD one million scheme — repatriation up to one million US Dollars per financial year per individual. Every cross-border outward remittance requires Form 15CA filed on the Income Tax e-filing portal and, for material amounts, Form 15CB issued by a Chartered Accountant. Our Form 15CA-15CB service handles the documentation end to end.
How does the USD one million scheme work for NRO account repatriation?
Under the USD one million scheme, an NRI, OCI card holder, or PIO can repatriate up to one million US Dollars per financial year from the NRO account balance. The financial year runs April to March and the limit resets every April. The scheme covers sale proceeds of Indian assets, accumulated NRO rental income, inheritance amounts, gifts received in India, and other permitted heads. The limit is per individual — joint NRO holders each receive a separate limit, and multiple legal heirs inheriting a single property each get separate limits. No RBI prior approval is needed within the limit. Form 15CA and Form 15CB are required for each transaction. Our FEMA India Rules page covers the full framework.
Are NRE and FCNR account repatriations subject to the USD one million limit?
No — NRE and FCNR account balances are fully repatriable without any monetary cap. NRE credits originally came from foreign currency remitted to India, and FCNR accounts hold foreign currency deposits, so both qualify for full repatriability. NRE and FCNR repatriations below the prescribed Form 15CA threshold typically need only Form 15CA Part A, without a Form 15CB. Beyond the threshold, Form 15CB also becomes mandatory. NRE and FCNR are therefore the cleanest source accounts for repatriation, which is why foreign-earned funds always belong in NRE — never in NRO. Our Exempt Income for NRIs page covers the NRE and FCNR exemption framework.
When are Form 15CA and Form 15CB required for repatriation of assets?
Form 15CA and Form 15CB are governed by Section 195 of the Income Tax Act 1961 read with Rule 37BB. Form 15CA is a self-declaration filed by the remitter on the Income Tax e-filing portal before every cross-border outward remittance. Form 15CB is the Chartered Accountant certificate confirming that applicable Indian taxes have been paid. Form 15CB is required where the remittance is from an NRO account, exceeds the prescribed threshold per financial year, and is chargeable to tax under Indian law. Form 15CB must be issued first — generating an Acknowledgement Number — which the remitter then uses when filing Form 15CA Part C. Our dedicated Form 15CA-15CB Filing service handles the full sequence.
Can an NRI repatriate sale proceeds of inherited property in India?
Yes — an NRI, OCI card holder, or PIO can repatriate sale proceeds of inherited Indian property under the USD one million scheme, up to one million US Dollars per financial year per legal heir. Where multiple legal heirs inherit a single property, each gets a separate USD one million limit. The proceeds must first be deposited into the NRI's NRO account before outward remittance. Documentation includes the death certificate, will or succession certificate, original property document, sale deed, capital gains computation (using the deceased's cost base and acquisition date for indexation), TDS deduction proof, Form 15CA, and Form 15CB. Our Inheritance page covers the full inheritance framework.
What is the role of Section 195 TDS in repatriation of assets?
Section 195 requires the remitter — the property buyer, tenant, or dividend-paying company — to deduct TDS at the applicable rate before transferring funds to the NRI. The default is the higher domestic rate, reducible to the lower DTAA treaty rate where the NRI furnishes a Tax Residency Certificate, Form 10F, and a self-declaration. The NRI may also apply under Section 197 for a Lower Deduction Certificate from the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer where the actual tax liability is lower than the default deduction. Advance Section 197 application or DTAA documentation prevents excess TDS at source and eliminates the need to claim a refund through the Indian return months later. Our DTAA service handles treaty rate application.
Can a returning Indian repatriate assets after becoming Resident under FEMA?
Once a returning Indian becomes Resident under FEMA, the USD one million scheme stops applying. Outward remittances thereafter fall under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, capped at USD 250,000 per financial year with TCS implications under Section 206C(1G). Returning Indians therefore often complete major NRO repatriation during the pre-return months while still NRI under FEMA — preserving the full USD one million bandwidth before the FEMA Resident shift. Special RBI permission may be sought in unusual legacy cases, though this is rarely granted and document-intensive. Our Returning Indian page covers pre-return repatriation planning in detail.

Need to repatriate Indian assets to your foreign bank account?

Source scoping, DTAA treaty rate, Section 197 LDC, capital gains computation, Form 15CB certification, Form 15CA filing, and AD bank SWIFT coordination — all under one roof.

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