Complete NRI guide to agricultural land in India: buying, inheriting, leasing, selling and tax

Here is the full picture for NRIs and OCIs in one place, since the same questions come up again and again. BUYING: Under FEMA and RBI's general position, an NRI or OCI cannot buy agricultural land, a farm house, or plantation property. This is fixed and does not change with an OCI card or an Indian passport in hand; it depends on your residential status under FEMA. INHERITING: You can inherit such land from a resident, and in many cases from another NRI who acquired it lawfully. Inheritance is the main clean route to ownership. Get the mutation done and the title chain checked. GIFT: Receiving agricultural land as a gift is a grey area and more restrictive than for a house; get any gift deed vetted by a FEMA-aware lawyer, and often a will leading to inheritance is the safer choice. LEASING: You can lease out your land for rent or take land on lease to farm yourself, since leasing is not ownership. Fixed cash rent is the lowest hassle for an NRI; mind state tenancy laws so a tenant does not gain occupancy rights. MANAGING FROM ABROAD: Use a trusted manager or relative, a limited task specific power of attorney (not a broad general one), bank transfers instead of cash, and insist on mandi slips and monthly accounts. SELLING: An NRI can sell inherited agricultural land only to a resident Indian, not to another NRI or OCI. TAX: Genuine crop income is exempt agricultural income in India (but may be taxable in your country of residence), while rent and capital gains on sale are taxable. Rural agricultural land meeting the distance and population test may not attract capital gains tax at all; urban or notified land does. Buyers usually deduct TDS from an NRI seller. REPATRIATION: Sale and rent proceeds usually route through an NRO account, and you can remit up to USD 1 million per financial year after taxes, using Forms 15CA and 15CB. SCHEMES: PM-Kisan, Kisan Credit Card, and most farmer subsidies are for resident cultivators, not NRIs, though a resident family member who actually farms may qualify in their own right. Every one of these points has nuances and state level variations, so treat this as a map, not the final word. Confirm your specific case with a CA for tax and repatriation, a FEMA-aware lawyer for ownership and POA, and RBI guidance where needed. This is general information and not legal, financial, or tax advice.