NRIs can purchase commercial, as well as residential property in India (except for agricultural land, farm house & plantation property) provided the purchase consideration is met either out of inward remittances in foreign exchange through normal banking channels or out of funds from the purchaser's NRE/FCNR accounts maintained with banks in India.

In this case, a declaration has to be submitted to the Central Office of Reserve Bank in form IPI 7 within a period of 90 days from the date of purchase of the property/final payment.

Yes, NRIs can sell their residential/commercial property without the permission of RBI. If the property is purchased by another PIO, funds towards the purchase consideration have to be remitted to India or paid out of balances in NRE/FCNR accounts.

Under the general permission available, the following categories can freely purchase immovable property in India:

- Non-Resident Indian (NRI) – that is a citizen of India resident outside India

- Person of Indian Origin (PIO) – that is an individual (not being a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh or Sri Lanka or Afghanistan or China or Iran or Nepal or Bhutan), who

- At any time, held Indian passport, or

- Who or either of whose father or grandfather was a citizen of India by virtue of the Constitution of India or the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955).The general permission, however, covers only purchase of residential and commercial property.

Many builders get their projects ‘pre-approved’ by specific home loan lenders. The lender examines the legal documents of the title of that project, the stage of construction as well as the builder’s track record to complete the project in time. It then declares all properties in the project to be ‘pre-approved’. You do not need to go for legal and technical checks in case of a ‘pre-approved’ property.

Fixed rate home loan is one where the interest rate on home loans charged by the lender is constant over the tenure of the loan. It is advisable to go in for a fixed rate only if you feel that the rate of interest prevailing in the market have touched rock bottom and the rates can only move upwards. Here are the latest offers on a 10 year fixed rate home loan and 20 year fixed rate home loan from the leading banks and housing finance companies in India.

If They Have Held The Property For Less Than Or Equal To 3 Years After Taking Actual Possession Then The Gains Would Be Short Term Capital Gains, Which Are To Be Included In Their Total Income As Tax As Per The Normal Slab Rates Shall Be Payable And If The Property Has Been Held For More Than 3 Years Then The Resultant Gain Would Be Long Term Capital Gains Subject To 20% Tax Plus Applicable Cess.