Things to Keep in Mind Before Opening NRI Fixed Deposit

India is among the few countries that offer high returns on financial investments in the global scenario and fixed deposit is one such instrument. With the count of non-resident Indians (NRI) soaring high with each passing day, many find it lucrative to invest their corpus back in India. Investments in fixed deposits, is usually preferred, amongst other Indian financial instruments, owing to low risk returns and as a hedge against market volatility.

Many financial institutions like banks, corporates and housing finance companies (HFC) offer fixed deposits to non-resident Indians. The interest rate offered by corporates and HFCs is generally higher than that offered by the banks.

Now let us come to the essentials of Fixed Deposit Investment for NRI. While making such transactions, NRI applicants need to keep the following things in mind.

• Applicants need to remember that they can only invest in fixed deposits, offered by Indian corporates and housing finance companies, through their non-resident ordinary (NRO) account. Similarly, the corpus earned at the time of maturity will be credited into their NRO accounts only. These are accounts where all transactions happen in Indian currency only.
• For investing in PNB Housing FD, NRI applicants need to furnish the following documents.
  • Photograph
  • Identity Proof
  • Copy of PAN
  • Address Proof
  • Copy of Passport
  • FATCA Form
• NRIs can open FD at PNB Housing with a corpus as low as INR 10,000. The investment can made for tenure of 1 to 3 years.
• Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) taxation rates makes NRI FDs even more attractive by lowering the tax rate from 30% to as low as 5% in case of few countries. NRI applicants can take benefit by filing a declaration that they fall under DTAA.

Another advantage that corporates and housing finance companies offer are a range of services they offer to their customers. PNB Housing fixed deposits, in particular, can be accessed via customer portal where you can speak to the company officials through live chat. One can even seek auto renewal and statement of accounts (SOA) through this feature.

If you are an NRI planning to invest in Indian investment instruments and are looking for assured returns with minimal risk, FDs offered by corporates and HFCs can be a good choice indeed !!

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