Moving Back to India: 2026 Money Checklist for Returning NRIs

A software architect boards a flight from Toronto to Delhi in late November with two suitcases, a container of furniture a month behind, and five Indian bank accounts that were all opened for a non-resident. The day she lands, most of those accounts are on the wrong side of the rules. Moving back to India is a residency change for two separate systems, foreign exchange law and income tax, and they run on different clocks. Get the order wrong and the cost shows up as taxed interest that should have been exempt, or as foreign savings stuck in the wrong kind of account.

This checklist covers what changes, in what order, under the rules in force in 2026. It explains published rules and is not tax or legal advice. Every family's mix of countries, pensions and property is different, so confirm your plan with a qualified adviser.

Two clocks: FEMA status and tax status

Under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, residency turns largely on intention. Someone who comes back to take up a job, run a business or stay for an uncertain period becomes a person resident in India for banking purposes more or less from arrival. That is the trigger for converting accounts.

Income tax uses day counts. The tests carried into the Income-tax Act, 2025 are unchanged, according to the Income Tax Department FAQs reported in July 2026: you are resident if you spend 182 days or more in India in the tax year, or 60 days or more in the year plus 365 days or more over the previous four years. Indian citizens and people of Indian origin who are visiting face a 120-day threshold instead of 60 when their Indian income, excluding foreign income, exceeds Rs 15 lakh. The new Act also keeps the "resident but not ordinarily resident" (RNOR) category, the transitional status that most returning NRIs pass through.

RNOR matters because during it, broadly, income earned abroad stays outside the Indian tax net and certain deposits keep their exemption. Guidance for returning residents puts the typical RNOR window at two to three years, depending on how long you were away. The exact span depends on your history, so it is worth having an adviser work it out before you book the flight, not after.

What happens to each account

The banking rules are set out in the RBI's deposit regulations and summarised in professional guidance from the ICAI's western region. The pattern is that rupee accounts convert, foreign currency deposits can run on, and a special account exists for foreign money you bring back.

The FCNR(B) row is the one with money in it. Its interest is exempt for a non-resident and, unusually, remains exempt through the RNOR period, so a deposit that matures within that window keeps its full return. That is one reason the rush into five-year FCNR(B) deposits during the RBI's 2026 swap window, which raised $127.2 billion by 31 August, has a tail of tax questions for anyone who returns before 2031. SBI notes that interest on its FCNR(B) deposits may become taxable on relocating to India, depending on tax status.

The RFC account and your foreign savings

The Resident Foreign Currency account is the least known and most useful tool for a returning NRI. It is opened by someone who was formerly an NRI or person of Indian origin. According to ICAI material on the accounts and remittance schemes, it can receive balances moved from NRE and FCNR(B) accounts when your status changes, foreign pension or superannuation from an overseas employer, and foreign currency realised from assets you were allowed to keep abroad. There is no time limit on it, interest is set by the bank, and the money can be used inside or outside India.

The legal backbone is Section 6(4) of FEMA. It lets a resident keep, transfer and invest foreign currency, foreign securities and overseas property acquired while living abroad, or inherited from a non-resident. You do not have to sell a flat in Leicester or close a brokerage account in New Jersey when you move. Income and sale proceeds from those assets can be used abroad or reinvested without RBI approval. New money you send out after becoming resident is different: it falls under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, capped at $250,000 per person per financial year.

You are allowed to keep what you built abroad. The rules only tighten on what you send out after you land.

Foreign assets and the reporting trap

Keeping foreign assets is legal. Not reporting them is not. Once you are resident and ordinarily resident, Indian tax returns require disclosure of foreign accounts, shares, property and pensions, and the penalties under the black money law for missing them are severe. RNOR years give some breathing room on taxation of foreign income, but reporting habits should start early.

For people who have already slipped, the government opened a one-time window. The FAST-DS 2026 scheme runs from 16 August to 31 December 2026, according to Budget 2026 commentary. One route covers undisclosed foreign assets or income up to Rs 1 crore, at 30 percent tax plus an equal additional amount. The other covers assets up to Rs 5 crore that were acquired while non-resident or from income already taxed in India, for a flat fee of Rs 1 lakh. Both give immunity from penalty and prosecution. A returnee who has been resident for a few years and never filed the foreign assets schedule is exactly the person that second route was written for.

What you can carry: baggage and gold

Baggage Rules 2026, effective 2 February 2026, raised the duty-free allowance for returning residents and NRIs or OCI holders from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000. Gold jewellery is now weight-based for anyone who has been abroad for more than a year: 40 grams for women and 20 grams for others. Duty above the allowance remains 35 percent, about 38.5 percent with surcharge. Household goods shipped separately go through the transfer of residence process at customs, which has its own conditions on how long you lived abroad, so check them with customs or your mover before you pack.

A worked example: returning from Toronto in November

Take the architect from the opening. She lands on 15 November 2026 to stay. Interest rates below are illustrative assumptions; the rules are as published.

• Day count. From 15 November to 31 March is 137 days, below 182. She may still be resident for tax year 2026-27 under the 60-day test if she spent 365 days or more in India across the previous four years. Either way, a long absence before that should keep her RNOR.
• NRE fixed deposit of Rs 20 lakh at an assumed 6.5 percent. About Rs 1.3 lakh of interest a year. Interest accruing before her return is exempt; interest after she becomes resident is taxable at her slab rate.
• FCNR(B) deposit of $50,000 maturing in 2028. It can run to maturity. If she is still RNOR then, the interest stays exempt in India. At maturity she can move it to an RFC account and keep it in dollars.
• Canadian retirement savings and brokerage account. She can keep both under Section 6(4). They must be reported in her Indian returns once required, and Canada may still tax some withdrawals, which is a treaty question for an adviser.
• Jewellery. She can bring 40 grams of gold jewellery duty-free, having lived abroad more than a year.

The biggest avoidable loss in this example is behavioural. If she leaves the NRE savings account untouched for a year, she is in breach of FEMA and the bank will eventually force a conversion anyway.

The dated checklist

1. Six months before: map every account and asset in both countries. Ask an adviser to project your residential status for the next three tax years, including when RNOR ends.
2. Three months before: decide which foreign accounts to keep. Notify foreign banks and brokers of the move; some will not serve India residents.
3. One month before: get proof of foreign pension entitlements and statements of all foreign assets as of departure. Book customs paperwork for shipped goods.
4. Within weeks of arrival: tell each Indian bank you are now resident. Redesignate NRE savings and NRO accounts, open an RFC account if you are bringing foreign money, and leave FCNR(B) deposits to run.
5. First 90 days: update PAN and Aadhaar addresses, buy domestic health insurance, and move parents' bills off foreign cards. Our guide to paying utility bills across borders covers the transition period.
6. First 31 March: close the tax year with your day count recorded. File an Indian return by 31 July with your status stated correctly.
7. End of RNOR: foreign income becomes taxable in India. Revisit the foreign accounts and any FCNR(B) deposits still running.

For the account rules behind steps 4 and 7, see our comparison of NRE, NRO and FCNR accounts and the broader FEMA rules for NRIs. If the move is partly about aging parents, our piece on caring for parents from abroad covers what changes once you are on the ground.

What to watch next

• 16 August to 31 December 2026: the FAST-DS window for disclosing foreign assets.
• 1 October 2026: resident buyers of property from NRIs can deduct TDS with their PAN, which matters if you sell an Indian flat before you return.
• 31 July 2027: returns for tax year 2026-27, the first under the Income-tax Act, 2025, where your residential status for the year of return is declared.
• 2028 to 2031: maturity of the five-year FCNR(B) deposits opened in the 2026 swap window. Returnees holding them should check whether they will still be RNOR on the maturity date. For ways to reinvest, see our guide to NRI investment routes.

This article summarises published RBI, customs and tax rules for general information. It is not financial, tax or legal advice. Residency calculations are fact-specific, so confirm your status and account changes with a qualified adviser.

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