If you are residing out of India it is quite possible that you are curious about NRI accounts. NRI's are Non-resident Indians is a term used to define who are living in abroad for a period of time for pursuing higher education or handling business. Reason for a living could be any, however, dealing financial matters is a mandate for everybody.
NRI Banking accounts have several salient aspects. Money transfers, trade exchange, taking benefits of different schemes- for all this, one should have an NRI bank account. There are different policies involved when it comes to an NRI bank account opening and different processes as well for all of the banks. Let’s look at the options available in some of our leading banks
ICICI NRI banking Account
Filling up an application form which can be found online
1. Next, fill up all the fields
2. Accept the terms and conditions
3. Upload necessary documents
4. And, that's it! Your part of work is finished here and one of the bank representatives will call you for further process.
5. Once the account is open and funded, it became operational.
Document that needs to be submitted in case of online submission in ICICI NRI Account-
For FATF countries-
1. Passport
2. Work Permit/Residence permit
3. PAN Card
4. FATCA/CRS declaration – it can be downloaded from bank's official website
5. CKYC Annexure – it can be downloaded from bank's official website
HDFC NRI Account
Once you land on the website for NRI accounts, you will see multiple options for savings, current, deposits account and one for returning Indians. One can choose as per the guidelines and advantages we discussed above.
Difference between ICICI and HDFC accounts is that latter one has a lesser amount of average monthly balance. You must have 10,000 for urban and 5,000 for semi-urban.
Citibank NRI account
Citibank provides luring offshore features and transactions are made possible without any contributions from Citibank subsidiary, branch or affiliate in that particular country. Despite that, rules of the residing country could affect the regulations of Indian bank laws.
Let us discuss different types of NRI bank accounts available-
NRE account – Non-Residential External
These are tax-free accounts and could be joint accounts also with other NRI. Choosing NRE accounts to have its own advantages like if you want your savings free from repatriation.
NRO account - Non-Residential Ordinary
If you want to park your earnings originating in India in rupees, go for this account. This is not tax-free like NRE one and it is possible to have a joint account with someone from India. Basically, under this account, you can manage rent, dividends etc.
Some general FAQ's regarding NRI bank account opening
In which currency account can be handled? One can maintain the accounts in rupees and in any foreign currency. As we have discussed above, if your originating income coming from India, you could go for NRO accounts and take the benefit of saving your income in rupees otherwise NRE accounts for foreign notes.
1. Is it possible to credit foreign currency traveller cheque to NRE accounts?
Only authorized dealers can credit the cheques which are brought up by the account holder. He/she might be travelling and need to withdraw cash through cheque, it is advisable to locate the authorized dealer and work with them.
2. What is the power of attorney basic function?
Power of attorney could be any local person whom some right could be given like making local payments on behalf of the account holder. He/she can only make local payments or invest in the account.
3. Is funds repatriation free outside India?
Absolutely free in NRO account, however, interest earned during the financial year 1994-95 is remitted to some extent.
4. Is there any country excluded from opening bank accounts?
Citizens from Pakistan and Bangladesh need to submit approval from Reserve Bank of India before they can proceed to open the account. Also, post offices in India also facilitate the accounts to be functional for NRI's. These accounts are fully operational and need to be maintained by some authorized dealer.
5. What is the process of taking loans?
Only authorized dealers can grant loans which should be subjected marginal requirements. It must include fund based/non-fund based facilities also.
6. What is the process when an NRI change its status to a resident?
NRE accounts funds can be transferred to RFC accounts immediately when he/she lands in India.
7. What all bank accounts can be opened by a tourist?
Tourist can only open NRO account both savings and current. He/she can also transfer some of the funds from outside India through online transfer or cheque. Interest would be applicable if time period exceeds six months and there has been local funds investment involved.
8. What is SNRR account?
Any individual who is living abroad and is interested in some business opportunity in India is entitled to open SNRR account i.e. Special Non-Resident Rupee Account. There are many restrictions on this account like the transfer from NRO account to SNRR is not possible. All the transactions have to abide the taxable rules existing in India. A person can face legal actions if find breaking any of the laws.
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