An NRI's Guide to Buying Property in Gurgaon: Repatriation, TDS and POA Basics
Buying property in Gurgaon from abroad involves three separate systems — FEMA, income tax, and the registration process itself. Here's how they actually fit together.
Gurgaon draws a steady stream of NRI buyers — professionals in the Gulf, the US, the UK and Southeast Asia looking to park capital in a market they understand, or planning an eventual return.
What trips most of them up isn't the property search. It's everything around it: which account to route money through, whether tax gets deducted and by whom, and how to legally complete a purchase without being physically present in India for every step.
This is a working map of that process — not a substitute for advice from a chartered accountant or property lawyer, both of whom you should engage before signing anything.
Can NRIs Even Buy Property in Gurgaon Freely?
Yes, with one category of exception.
NRIs and OCIs (Overseas Citizens of India) can buy residential and commercial property in India without seeking prior RBI approval, under FEMA's general permission route. This applies to apartments, independent floors, and most plotted developments in Gurgaon.
What's restricted: agricultural land, plantation property, and farmhouses. These can only be acquired through inheritance or as a gift from a resident Indian relative — not through a direct purchase. For a buyer looking at a Gurgaon apartment, builder floor, or DDJAY plotted colony, this restriction generally doesn't apply, but it's worth confirming the exact land classification before committing, since some peripheral "plotted development" schemes sit closer to this line than city-sector purchases.
There's also no cap on how many properties an NRI can own. The restriction is on land type, not on count or value.
Which Account You Use to Pay Actually Matters
This is the part that has the biggest downstream effect on repatriation later, so it's worth getting right at the time of purchase, not after.
Funds used to buy the property should be routed through an NRE, NRO, or FCNR account, or through an Indian home loan taken in the NRI's own name. Paying informally, or from a foreign account not properly documented in India, creates FEMA compliance problems that are considerably harder to unwind after the fact than to avoid at the start.
The account used also determines your repatriation position if you sell later:
If the property was funded through NRE or FCNR sources, the resale proceeds are typically repatriable up to the value of the original investment, subject to conditions.
If the property was funded through an NRO account or general Indian income, repatriation is capped under the standard NRO limits rather than treated as a return of foreign-sourced capital.
In practice, this means the bank transfer you make on day one is effectively setting the terms for how easily you can move your money back out years later. Keep the funding documentation — remittance certificates, bank statements — for as long as you hold the property.
TDS: The Rule Most Buyers Get Backwards
Most people assume TDS is only a seller's problem. For an NRI buyer, it depends entirely on who you're buying from.
Buying from a resident Indian seller: The standard rule applies — the buyer deducts TDS at 1% of the sale value under Section 194-IA, for transactions above ₹50 lakh. This is the same as any resident-to-resident transaction.
Buying from an NRI seller: This is where buyers get caught out. When the seller is also an NRI, the TDS obligation shifts to a much higher bracket under Section 195 — historically in the range of 20-30% plus applicable surcharge and cess, depending on how long the seller held the property and the resulting capital gains treatment. The buyer, not just the seller, is responsible for deducting this correctly and depositing it with the tax department — and needs a TAN (Tax Deduction Account Number) to do so, which a standard PAN doesn't cover.
Getting this wrong doesn't just create a tax problem for the seller — an under-deducted TDS on a purchase from an NRI seller can expose the buyer to interest and penalty liability directly.
If you're buying from an NRI seller and the deduction feels too high relative to their actual gains, that's the seller's issue to resolve — they can apply for a Lower TDS Certificate (Form 13) from the Income Tax Department in advance, which allows deduction at a rate closer to their real tax liability instead of the flat higher rate. As the buyer, ask for that certificate before registration if the seller is claiming a lower rate applies.
Repatriation: What "Getting Your Money Out" Actually Involves
Repatriation only becomes relevant when you eventually sell, but it's worth understanding upfront, since it shapes how you structure the purchase.
Sale proceeds from an Indian property must first be credited to your NRO account — they cannot be paid directly into an NRE account or wired overseas without going through the formal process. From the NRO account, an NRI can repatriate up to USD 1 million per financial year (April to March), aggregated across sale proceeds and other NRO-sourced funds like rental income, subject to documentation and tax compliance.
The paperwork that makes this possible is Form 15CA and Form 15CB — a self-declaration and a chartered accountant's certification respectively, confirming that applicable tax has been deducted and the remittance doesn't violate FEMA. Without these, a bank will not process the outward remittance, regardless of how much tax you've already paid.
For inherited property, note that the cost base used for capital gains is the original owner's acquisition cost — not the market value at the time you inherited it. This detail trips up more NRI sellers than almost anything else in the calculation, since it can substantially change the tax liability from what was assumed.
Power of Attorney: Why You'll Likely Need One, and What It Should Cover
Most NRI buyers can't be physically present in Gurgaon for every step of a purchase — site visits, document verification, registration at the sub-registrar's office. A Power of Attorney (POA) is the standard mechanism to authorise someone — a family member, lawyer, or trusted representative — to act on your behalf.
A few things worth being precise about:
Use a Special POA, not a General one, wherever possible. A Special POA limits the agent's authority to specific, named actions — signing the sale deed, completing registration, handling a specific transaction — rather than giving broad, open-ended powers over your affairs. This limits your exposure if the relationship with the agent changes.
Execute it correctly if signed abroad. A POA signed outside India needs to be notarised in the country of residence and then either apostilled (for Hague Convention countries) or attested by the Indian embassy/consulate (for non-Hague countries), before it's valid for property registration in India. A POA that skips this step is a common reason registrations get rejected or delayed.
Register the POA in India where required. Depending on the powers granted and the state, the POA itself may need to be registered with the sub-registrar in India, separate from the property transaction it's being used for.
Don't let the POA outlive its purpose. Once the transaction it was created for is complete, formally revoke it. An unrevoked POA sitting with someone is a liability, not a convenience.
A Practical Checklist Before You Sign Anything
Confirm the property isn't agricultural land, a farmhouse, or plantation property under FEMA's restricted category.
Route all payments through a properly documented NRE, NRO, or FCNR account, or an Indian home loan — never informally.
If buying from an NRI seller, confirm the correct TDS rate and ask for their Lower TDS Certificate if they're claiming one applies.
Verify RERA registration and title history independently — a POA holder acting on your behalf should not be your only source of due diligence.
Get your Special POA properly notarised and apostilled/attested before relying on it for registration in India.
Engage a chartered accountant early — not after a sale — since repatriation planning starts with how the purchase is funded, not just how the eventual sale is taxed.
Guide Snapshot
Who can buy: NRIs and OCIs, without RBI approval, for residential/commercial property
Restricted: Agricultural land, farmhouses, plantation property (inheritance/gift only)
Funding route: NRE, NRO, FCNR account, or Indian home loan
TDS on purchase: 1% if buying from a resident seller (Section 194-IA); 20-30%+ if buying from an NRI seller (Section 195), requires buyer TAN
Repatriation cap: USD 1 million per financial year from NRO account, with Forms 15CA/15CB
POA: Special POA preferred; must be apostilled or embassy-attested if executed abroad
This is general information current as of the time of writing. FEMA, income tax and RERA rules change, and individual circumstances vary — always confirm current requirements with a chartered accountant and property lawyer before transacting.
Final Takeaway
For an NRI buyer, the property search is often the easiest part of a Gurgaon purchase. The part that actually determines whether the transaction goes smoothly — and whether you can move your money back out cleanly years later — is set up in the first few decisions: which account you fund the purchase from, whether TDS is correctly assessed, and whether your POA is properly executed.
Get those three right at the start, and the rest of the process is administrative. Get them wrong, and they become the most expensive part of owning property in India from abroad.
