Business Taxperts

NRI Services

NRI/OCI/PIO Cross Country Services

NRIs/OCIs/PIOs, often wish to invest their funds in India. They require a one-stop reliable solution for their financial management tasks. We at Business Taxperts, take immense pleasure in assisting our NRI/OCI/PIO clients with all the financial as well as Non-Financial tasks.

What Do We Offer You?

Financial Services/Functions:

  • Guaranteed Return Plans
  • Life Insurance
  • Mutual Fund Investments
  • Portfolio Management
  • Shares and Equity

International Courier Services:

  • Document/Parcel/Bulk/Containers
  • Door to Door Delivery
  • Airport to airport delivery
  • Bulk Cargo- container by Air/Sea
  • Value Addition Services- Goods Collection to Courier

Additional Services:

  • Corporate services- Branding and Printing, Website Designing, Seasonal Gifting
  • Customized and Traditional Garments and Imitation jewelry
  • Customized Interior Furniture
  • Customized Handicraft- Wooden and Marble
  • Luxury Travel Solutions across the world
  • Business PR for Australia and many more.

General NRI Investments FAQs

An NRI is a Citizen of India, who stays outside India.

For goals of pursuing employment or any business.

Any citizen of India, deputed outside of country for a temporary duration in connection with employment.

A citizen of a foreign country (other than that of Bangladesh or Pakistan) is a PIO if:
  • He/She has held an Indian Passport OR
  • He/She or his/her parents or his/her grandparents are citizen of India
  • Spouse (is not a citizen of Bangladesh or Pakistan) is an Indian citizen (a) or (b) above.
    • Equity trading on BSE and NSE
    • Derivatives trading on the NSE
    • IPO online
    • Portfolio Management
    • Guaranteed Return Plans against Fixed Deposits
    • Basic Life Insurance Solutions
    • Investments in Mutual Funds

    As per the process, an NRI should open a new bank account (NRE/NRO or both) with designated bank that is approved by RBI for this particular purpose.

    Then, he should apply for a general approval for investment in Indian Stock Market via his designated bank branch.

    Further, he should open a DEMAT account with an NBFC that would hold his shares and then he can register to execute his buy/sell orders on respective stock exchange(s).

    An NRI or PIO can open two kinds of savings accounts with any bank in India. These are:
    • NRE Bank account
    • NRO Bank account
    An NRE bank account is an external saving bank account opened specially for NRIs. Since it is an external account, any money in NRE account can be taken outside the country (or to be simple, the money in this account are repatriable). This money can be converted into any foreign currency on the demand of account holder and can be sent outside the country.
    An NRO account is an ordinary saving bank account opened for NRIs. Since it is an ordinary account, the money in NRO account cannot be taken outside of the country.
    Yes money can be easily transferred from an NRE account to an NRO account.
    In this case the money cannot be transferred from an NRO account to an NRE account.
    In such situation, RBI has suggested banks to re-designate the accounts as resident accounts on coming back of the respective account holder to India.
    As per the section 6(5) of FEMA, an NRI can continue to hold the securities, which he/she had purchased as a resident of India, even after he/she has become a non-resident Indian, but he/she has to transfer the shares to his/her NRO account.
    NRIs are allowed to make direct investment in shares or debentures of Indian companies or units of mutual funds. They are also allowed to make portfolio investments i.e, purchase of shares or debentures of Indian Companies through stock exchange. These facilities are granted on both, repatriation and non-repatriation basis.
    Yes, surely. The issuing company needs to issue shares to an NRI on the basis of specific or general permission from GOI/RBI. Therefore, an individual NRI does not need to obtain any permission.
    No, he /she doesn’t need to take any permissions to receive bonus or right shares.
    RBI has a scheme – Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS), defined in Schedule 3 of Foreign Exchange Management Act 2000 under which the “Non Resident Indians (NRIs)” and “Person of Indian Origin (PIOs)” can purchase and sell the shares and the convertible debentures of Indian Companies on a recognized stock exchange in India by routing all such purchase/sale transactions through their account held with respective Designated Bank Branch.
    Any NRI or a PIO wanting to trade or to make fresh investments in the Indian Equity Secondary Market needs to have one PIS account with only a single designated bank in India.
    Notes:
    PIS account is applicable only for NRIs, not for residents of India.
    It is only for trading in Indian Markets It is applicable only for equity trades and not Mutual Fund investments.
    There are 2 types of PIS account:
    • NRE PIS accounts
    • NRO PIS accounts
    For all the Indian companies or the companies that are listed on Indian stock exchanges, there are several limits which have to be monitored under FEMA regulations. For any company, the foreign investment in that company cannot cross a pre-determined limit. This limit is different for various companies and sectors. Also, individually an NRI or a PIO cannot invest more than 5% in any Indian company.
    An NRI/PIO can open only one (1) PIS account with the designated banks (Preferable bank – UTI Bank) in a prescribed format for PIS account, upon which the bank can issue a PIS approval letter to the respective investor.
    No, you cannot. Any investment in secondary market should be routed through a PIS account. For other products, the investment can be done via direct subscription route.
    It is normal savings account which can be opened in any bank in India. Non-PIS is an account for which the transactions are not reported to the Reserve Bank of India. This account handles the selling of all those shares which are not allowed under PIS. Shares acquired under IPO or received as gift or bought as resident of India can be sold under the Non-PIS account.
    There are 2 kinds of NON PIS account:
    • NRE NON PIS accounts
    • NRO NON PIS accounts
    • Sale of shares which were acquired on other than PIS.
    • Shares acquired through IPOs.
    • Gifts from relatives or otherwise.
    • Shares bought as resident of India.
    • Fresh acquisition through IPOs.
    • Investment in Mutual Funds.
    As per the regulations, NRIs are allowed to invest up to a particular percentage of the total paid up capital of the company by directly subscribing to the equity/convertible debentures of the company either through a public offering made by the company or through the private placements on one-to-one basis. Regulations provide for the different ceilings on such investments based on industry to which the company belongs and also the nature of investments (repatriation or non-repatriation basis).
    No, the Investments made by NRIs though subscription to Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) or Private placements are not covered under Portfolio Investment Scheme. Such investments are covered by Reserve Bank of India’s regulations with regard to Foreign Direct Investments.
    No, the NRIs do not require any permissions to invest though IPOs or Private placements. In such cases, the Issuing Company should comply with all necessary regulations.
    No, the NRIs can sell such shares/debentures on the Exchange without any approval or permissions. However, while seeking the credit of sale proceeds to an NRE or an NRO account, the bank should be provided the details of the date of allotment and cost of acquisition to calculate the taxes, if there are any.
    Yes, Investment can be made on repatriation as well as non-repatriation basis. However, an NRI will have to open an NRE account as well as an NRO account with designated bank branch as the sale proceeds of non-repatriation investment can only be and will only be credited to an NRO account.
    The repatriation of the sale proceed and net of taxes, are permitted if the original purchase was made on repatriation basis and such investments were made out of the funds from NRE/FCNR account or by means of remittance from abroad.
    Corporate benefits can be in the form of dividend, interest, rights, and bonuses, etc. Any corporate benefit resulting out of an investment in securities on non-repatriation basis will not carry the rights of repatriation. Similarly any corporate benefit resulting out of an investment in securities on repatriation basis will carry the rights of repatriation.
    A NRI/PIO needs to open a DEMAT account with an NBFC as explained previously.
    No, the securities received against any investments under “Foreign Direct Investment scheme (FDI)”, “Portfolio Investment scheme (PIS) and Scheme for Investment” on non-repatriation basis have to be credited into the separate DEMAT accounts. Investment under PIS can be on repatriation or non – repatriation basis. Investment under FDI scheme is usually on repatriation basis.
    Client submits a DRF form along with the physical share certificate to NBFC, who forwards it to the Registrar & Transfer agent for confirmation from the company. After the confirmation the client account is credited.
    As per guidelines, Tax (if applicable) has to be deducted at the source, for all the profits done in equity market transaction. Before crediting sales proceeds, it is the responsibility of the broker and the PIS cell to determine the appropriate Tax amount and to deduct it at the source.
    TDS rate is different as per tenure of the investment. It can be classified as below:
    • Long-term capital gain: if the period of holding is more than 1 year, then the TDS rate applicable is 0 %. Before 1st Oct 2004 this rate was 10% and now it is tax-free.
    • Short-term capital gain – If the period of holding is less than 1 year, then the TDS rate applicable is 10%.
    TDS is computed on the profit amount as per the applicable rate i.e. short term or long term on a First-In First-Out (FIFO) basis.
    For any TDS to be deducted and the money to be transferred to bank account, there are 3 points that have to be verified:
    • Amount of gain = Selling price – Purchase price
    • Duration of holding (long term or short term) = Selling date – Purchase date
    • Source of fund for purchase: NRE or NRO
    Important: The TDS is deducted only at the time of crediting sales proceeds.
    PMS means: “Portfolio Management Services” that provide the benefits of diversification across assets, sectors, and funds for you. The experts in Portfolio Management combine best of the breed investment of avenues as they aim to achieve optimal returns at managed/calculated levels of risk. These are transparent collective investments.
    A mutual fund is nothing but a collection of stocks (and/or) bonds. You can make money/gains from the mutual fund in 3 ways:
    • Income is earned from dividends on stocks and interest on bonds. A fund pays out almost all the income it receives over the year to fund owners in the form of a distribution.
    • If the fund sells securities that have increased in price, the fund has a capital Gain. Most funds also pass on these gains to investors in a distribution manner.
    • If fund holdings increase in price but are not sold by the fund manager, the fund’s shares increase in price. You can then sell your mutual fund shares for a profit later.