The NRI Guide to Buying in North Bengaluru (2026): Rules, Taxes, POA, Repatriation

Last updated 16 July 2026 · Facts checked against the sources listed at the end

This guide collects the rules an NRI or OCI buyer needs in 2026: who may buy, how money moves in and out, which tax attaches at each end, and how to complete a purchase from another time zone. It is general information, not tax, legal or investment advice: rules change and cases differ, so confirm each step with your chartered accountant and banker before money moves.

Can NRIs and OCIs buy property in Bengaluru at all?

Yes. Under FEMA’s general permission, NRIs and OCIs may buy residential and commercial property in India without any RBI approval. The exclusions are agricultural land, plantation property and farmhouses, which can generally only come to an NRI by inheritance from a resident. Nothing changed at the FEMA level in the 2025-26 cycle. The 2026 updates were tax-procedural. The framework sits in the official RBI/MEA FAQ on acquisition and transfer of immovable property (source 1).

The prohibition has teeth: FEMA contraventions can attract penalties of up to three times the sum involved. If a plotted “farm retreat” is marketed to you as NRI-eligible, slow down and put the title papers in front of a lawyer.

How do you fund the purchase from abroad?

All payment must travel through Indian banking channels, in rupees: an inward remittance from your overseas account, or a debit to your NRE, NRO or FCNR(B) account. There is no FEMA ceiling on inward remittances for the purchase; foreign currency notes and traveller’s cheques are not permitted. Which route you pay from is not a detail. It fixes how much you can take back out when you eventually sell.

Framework per the RBI/MEA FEMA FAQ and bank guidance (sources 1, 5–6), as of July 2026. Payment in rupees through banking channels only.

Keep the paper trail from day one: remittance advices, statements, the split between own funds and loan. At repatriation time your banker will ask for it, and the forex-paid portion is what the rule measures.

How much can you borrow, and at what rate?

NRIs borrow from Indian lenders on the same RBI loan-to-value slabs as residents: 90% for loans up to ₹30 lakh, 80% between ₹30–75 lakh, and 75% above ₹75 lakh, the slab most corridor apartments fall in. Loans are sanctioned in rupees, and repayment must route through your NRE or NRO account.

RBI loan-to-value norms as summarised in lender guidance (sources 8–9), July 2026. Sanction terms vary by bank and profile.

Pricing, July 2026: NRI floating rates run roughly 7.15–8.75% by lender and profile, a shade above resident headline rates of about 7.2% (rate trackers, July 2026). The backdrop helps: the repo rate was held at 5.25% at the RBI’s June 2026 review, after 125 basis points of cuts since February 2025. Lenders typically ask for your passport and visa or OCI card, one to three years of overseas employment, and an operating NRE/NRO account. Treat advertised “from” rates as a shop window; read your sanction letter.

Illustration: on a ₹1.4 crore corridor flat, the 75% slab caps the loan near ₹1.05 crore. Plan at least ₹35 lakh of your own funds, plus roughly ₹10.64 lakh of stamp duty, cess, surcharge and registration on a BBMP deed. Worked tables are in our cost-of-buying guide.

What tax applies when you buy?

Two different TDS regimes exist, and the seller’s residency, not yours, decides which one you are in. Buying from a resident seller (a developer sale counts): you deduct 1% TDS wherever the deal is ₹50 lakh or more, computed on the higher of the price or the stamp-duty value. Buying a resale flat from another NRI: TDS applies to the entire amount at capital-gains-linked rates, with heavier paperwork.

A typical corridor purchase from the developer sits in the resident-seller column: file Form 141 with your PAN and deposit the 1%. The deduction is the buyer’s job, so build it into every instalment your CA reviews.

Separately, Karnataka’s duty stack lands on the sale deed wherever you live: 5% stamp duty on the higher of agreement or guidance value, cess and surcharge on the duty, and a registration fee doubled to 2% since 31 August 2025. That is about 7.6% all-in, before GST on under-construction purchases. Confirm the computation with your CA and the sub-registrar.

What tax applies when you eventually sell?

Hold the flat for more than 24 months and the gain is long-term, taxed at 12.5% without indexation, the regime that has applied to transfers since 23 July 2024 and continues for FY 2026-27. One nuance NRIs should price in: for property acquired before 23 July 2024, some resident sellers may still choose 20% with indexation. That option is not available to NRIs.

Mechanically, your buyer deducts TDS on the whole sale amount: the full-value regime above, seen from the other side. If the correct tax works out lower, apply in advance for a lower or nil-TDS certificate (Form 13, now Form 128) so your money is not parked in a refund cycle. Outcomes are personal (exemptions and treaty positions differ), so model the sale with your CA before you list.

How does repatriation actually work?

Two channels. Through your NRO account you may remit up to USD 1 million per financial year, a ceiling that covers all NRO-routed funds combined, including sale proceeds. Separately, if the purchase was funded in foreign exchange (an inward remittance, NRE or FCNR(B) money), the principal is repatriable up to the forex you originally paid, and that route is capped at two residential properties.

Gains above the forex-paid portion travel through the USD 1 million NRO window; larger sums need RBI approval or multi-year phasing. Your bank will ask for remittance certificates (Forms 15CA/15CB, renumbered 145/146), with a CA signing off the tax position first. Protect this exit by deciding the funding mix before you buy. Confirm the mechanics with your banker and CA at purchase stage, not sale stage.

Can you complete the purchase without flying to India?

Yes. Most NRI purchases complete on one signed instrument: a power of attorney held by someone you trust in India. Attested correctly, it lets your attorney sign the agreement, present the deed and attend the sub-registrar appointment. Executed casually, it can stall the registration. The sequence that works:

1. Draft a Special POA naming the property and the specific powers (safer than a General POA).
2. Sign it before a notary in your country of residence.
3. Apostille it (India is a Hague Convention member) or get Indian Embassy/Consulate attestation. Many sub-registrars insist on the consular route for property POAs.
4. Courier the original to India.
5. Have it stamped/adjudicated with the District Registrar within 3 months of its receipt in India.
6. Register it if it authorises execution of transfer deeds.

The rest travels well over a screen. Developers run video walkthroughs, and Karnataka’s RERA portal (rera.karnataka.gov.in) lets you pull a project’s registration, plans and quarterly updates from any country. Our verified-facts walkthrough shows the steps on a live corridor project. Registration paperwork runs through Kaveri 2.0 online up to one sub-registrar visit, which your attorney attends. Have a lawyer draft the POA; keep the powers narrow.

Why North Bengaluru specifically?

Because the airport corridor is where Bengaluru’s next decade of jobs and transit is being laid, while entry prices remain a band below the established city side. North Bengaluru took 34% of the city’s Q1 2026 residential launches (Anarock), and current corridor launches still list 2 BHKs from about ₹1.1 crore and 3 BHKs under ₹2 crore (developer and portal listings, mid-2026), against roughly ₹14,450 per sq ft in city-side Hebbal (99acres-reported, July 2026).

The employment base is no longer hypothetical. Foxconn’s Devanahalli plant hired about 30,000 workers in nine months (Business Standard, December 2025), with reported investment near ₹20,000 crore; 50,000 is a target, not yet a fact. SAP Labs opened its 41-acre Devanahalli campus in 2025, about 3,200 staff in, built for 15,000. Most of the residential belt sits 15–20 minutes from the terminals by road.

Transit is the swing factor. The Blue Line (58.19 km, about 71% of civil work done by April 2026) is phased so the Hebbal–Airport leg serving Yelahanka, Bagalur Cross and Doddajala is targeted for June 2027, ahead of the middle KR Puram–Hebbal leg (December 2027). Treat every date as a target; these timelines have slipped before (Swarajya, June 2026). The fuller growth case is in our airport-corridor explainer.

On price: 58% of Bengaluru’s new supply launches in the ₹1.5–2.5 crore band (Anarock, Q1 2026); corridor new-launch bases run about ₹10,850–12,000 per sq ft, against Yelahanka’s established ~₹10,450, up 20.1% in a year (99acres, July 2026). Per-project entry prices, each sourced and dated, are in our under-₹2-crore shortlist.

Planning an October–December homecoming, the season when NRI site visits cluster? Do the paperwork before the flight, so the trip is spent shortlisting, not queueing:

• POA drafted, attested and stamped (steps above), if someone will sign for you;
• funding route confirmed with your banker (which account pays decides your repatriation options);
• loan pre-sanction in hand (the rates above are July 2026 asks, so reconfirm);
• RERA certificates of shortlisted projects downloaded and read;
• the water question asked project by project (our North Bengaluru water guide carries the checklist);
• site visits booked in advance, clustered by belt.

If the corridor makes your shortlist, you can book a site visit for your trip or request the current cost sheet from the advisory. For transparency: we work with buyers at TVS Emerald Altura in Sathanur (project RERA PRM/KA/RERA/1251/309/PR/040426/008572); the rules here apply unchanged to whichever project you pick.

Once more, because it separates a plan from a surprise: confirm the tax and remittance mechanics for your situation with your CA and banker before any money moves.