Can an NRI purchase land in India? Plots yes, farmland only by inheritance

Can an NRI purchase land in India? The answer by type of land

FEMA sorts land into two groups and treats them very differently. Non-agricultural land, meaning a residential, commercial or industrial plot, is open to NRIs and OCI cardholders on the same footing as a flat. Agricultural land, plantation property and farmhouses are closed to them, except by inheritance. Rule 24 of the FEMA (Non-Debt Instruments) Rules, 2019 sets this out clause by clause.

There is no limit on the number of plots, and nothing is filed with the RBI after you buy one. The price has to be paid in India, by inward remittance or from an NRE, FCNR(B) or NRO account. Cash and payments into an account abroad are not allowed. Keep the bank records, because you will need them when you sell and want the money abroad.

Is there an RBI permission route for farmland? The Rules give no general permission, so the only route left is a specific application to the RBI. We do not advise any client to plan a purchase around it. If a seller tells you RBI approval is a formality, treat that as a reason to stop. For flats, offices and the payment rules in more detail, see our post on the NRI rules for buying property.

What counts as agricultural land, a plantation or a farmhouse?

FEMA does not define any of the three. In practice the answer comes from the state's land records. If the 7/12 extract in Maharashtra, or the record of rights in another state, shows the land as agricultural, it is agricultural land for FEMA, however it is advertised.

That is the mistake we see most. A plot sold as a "villa plot" or "weekend home plot" turns out to be farmland in the record, because the conversion was applied for and never granted, or was never applied for at all. The buyer's NRI status then becomes a problem that no later paperwork fixes.

Plantation property means estates growing crops such as tea, coffee, rubber or cardamom. A farmhouse is a house standing on agricultural land. Building a bungalow on farmland does not turn the land into a residential plot, and buying only the house does not get round the bar.

Managed farmland and other structures

Some projects market "managed farmland" to NRIs, or offer a long lease, a club membership or shares in a company that holds the farm instead of a sale deed. A label does not change what is being acquired. Each structure needs its own FEMA analysis before any money moves, and some fail it. Ask your own advocate for that advice in writing before you pay a booking amount.

Can an NRI inherit agricultural land in India?

Yes. Under Rule 24(c) an NRI or OCI can inherit any immovable property, farmland included, from a person resident in India, or from a person resident outside India who acquired it lawfully. It makes no difference whether the land passes under a will or under the succession law that applies to the family. No RBI approval is needed.

What changes is what you can do afterwards. You can keep the land as long as you like and have it cultivated. Be careful about letting it out, though: in Maharashtra and several other states, a person who cultivates someone else's land can acquire tenancy rights, so any arrangement needs drafting with that in mind. And you can sell or gift the land only to a person resident in India (Rule 24(d)). A sale to a cousin in Dubai is not permitted, however convenient.

Land you bought before you left India

Section 6(5) of FEMA lets you keep property you acquired while you were resident in India. So farmland bought before you moved abroad does not have to be sold when you become an NRI. The Rule 24(d) limit applies when you part with it: the buyer or donee must be resident in India.

Getting the land into your name

Inheriting the land and having the record show it are separate steps. In Maharashtra the heirs report the succession to the Talathi for a mutation entry, which Section 149 of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966 expects within three months, with the death certificate and proof of heirship, or the will and probate where one was obtained. Until that entry is certified, the 7/12 extract still shows the person who died. That gap is exactly what fraudsters use, as our post on NRI property fraud in India explains.

A release in your favour is not inheritance

Families often settle inherited farmland by having some heirs release their shares to others. If resident brothers release their shares to you while you are an NRI, we treat that as a transfer to you, not inheritance, and it runs into the same bar as a gift. The release can safely go the other way: you can release your share to a resident brother or sister. Look at the family's plan before anyone signs, because undoing a release is far harder than drafting it correctly.

Can an NRI receive land as a gift?

A non-agricultural plot, yes, but only from a relative. Rule 24(b) uses the definition in Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013: spouse, parents, children and their spouses, brothers and sisters, and members of the same Hindu undivided family. A plot from an uncle, a grandparent or a family friend falls outside it. The donor can be resident in India, an NRI or an OCI.

Agricultural land, a plantation or a farmhouse cannot be gifted to an NRI or OCI at all, even by a parent. Some websites say otherwise; the 2019 Rules do not. A gift deed of farmland in favour of an NRI child is a FEMA contravention, and it leaves a title that the next buyer's advocate will refuse to pass.

Parents planning for an NRI child

If parents want farmland to reach a child abroad, a will does it lawfully, because the child then takes by inheritance. A lifetime gift does not. A will also lets them leave the land to a child living in India and other assets to the one abroad, which is sometimes simpler for everyone. We draft wills under the Indian Succession Act, 1925 as a fixed-fee service, from Rs 10,000.

Buying a plot: NRI land purchase due diligence

Once FEMA is satisfied, the work moves to the land itself. Land carries risks a flat in a finished building does not: there is no builder, no occupancy certificate, and the records can go back a century. These are the checks we run on a plot before an NRI client pays more than a token.

Classification and conversion

Confirm from the record that the land is non-agricultural, and how it became so. In Maharashtra that means the conversion order (the "NA order") or, where the law treats land in a planned area as converted on payment of charges, the proof of payment, followed by a 7/12 extract or property card showing the new use. The Maharashtra Land Revenue Code was amended again in 2025 to simplify conversion, so the papers to expect depend on when the land was converted. A brochure, a layout plan or a broker's word is not proof.

Tenure and entries on the 7/12 extract

Read the whole extract, not just the owner's name. Land on restricted tenure, shown in Maharashtra as occupancy Class II, cannot be transferred without the Collector's permission and payment of a premium. The "other rights" column may show a tenant, a bank's charge or a government restriction. Pull the mutation entries behind each change of name and read them, because a forged entry looks like any other.

Survey number verification on the ground

The record describes land by survey number, hissa number and area. What the seller shows you is a piece of ground. Proving the two are the same needs a measurement, through the land records department in Maharashtra or by a licensed surveyor working from the record map. If the measured area is smaller than the recorded one, or the boundaries do not match the neighbouring survey numbers, resolve it before paying.

Encumbrance certificate for land

Ask for a search covering at least 30 years, longer if the land has been partitioned or sold often. An encumbrance certificate shows registered mortgages, charges and transfers. It shows litigation only where a notice of the suit was registered, and it never shows an unregistered family settlement or a mortgage by deposit of title deeds. So land title verification also needs a court search on the eCourts portal, a CERSAI search and a public notice inviting objections.

Access, reservations and boundaries

Confirm that the plot touches a public road or has a recorded right of way. A landlocked plot leaves you negotiating with a neighbour from a weak position. Check the development plan for reservations, such as road widening or a public amenity. Once the measurement is done, have the boundaries marked and photographed with a date.

State tenancy laws: when FEMA is not the only test

Agricultural land is also controlled by state law, and those laws bind residents too. They matter to NRIs in three situations: a returning NRI who wants to buy farmland, an NRI selling inherited farmland, and a family that tries to buy farmland in a resident relative's name. What follows is the general picture. The rules change, so check the current position for the district before any deal.

• Maharashtra. Section 63 of the Maharashtra Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948 generally bars the transfer of agricultural land to a person who is not an agriculturist, unless the Collector permits it or an exception such as bona fide industrial use applies. An NRI who inherits farmland may hold it. When it is sold, the buyer must normally be resident in India for FEMA and an agriculturist for state law, or the sale needs the Collector's permission.
• Gujarat. Its tenancy law has a similar agriculturist requirement.
• Himachal Pradesh. Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972 requires state government permission before land passes to a person who is not an agriculturist of the state, so even a house plot there needs it.

Two points come up often. An NRI who has inherited farmland is sometimes told this makes them an agriculturist, free to buy more. Even if the state saw it that way, FEMA still bars the purchase while you are non-resident. And buying farmland in a resident relative's name with your money is not a way round the rule. It risks a FEMA contravention and a benami transaction under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, and your relative becomes the legal owner.

Protecting land you own from abroad

Vacant land is the property most often encroached on or sold by an impostor, because nobody notices for years. A few habits make it a poor target:

• Fence the plot and put up a board with the owner's name and survey number.
• Pay the land revenue or property tax yourself every year and keep the receipts.
• Check the 7/12 extract and its mutation entries online at least once a year.
• Have someone visit and photograph the plot, with dates, a few times a year.
• If someone looks after the land, record in writing that they are there with your permission and can be asked to leave.

If someone has already moved onto the land or put up a structure, time limits start to matter. Our post on illegal possession of NRI property explains the six-month suit and the routes after it.

What to do next if you are buying, or have inherited, land

1. Classify the land first. Get the current 7/12 extract or property card and confirm whether the land is agricultural or converted. That alone answers the FEMA question.
2. Settle how you will acquire it. Purchase for a plot; inheritance or a will for farmland. Never a gift or release of farmland to you while you are non-resident.
3. Appoint your own advocate for the title. Thirty years of records, mutation entries, court and CERSAI searches, a measurement and a public notice.
4. Sign a special Power of Attorney if you cannot travel. It should describe the land by survey number and area and allow only this purchase.
5. Pay through Indian banking channels. An NRE, FCNR(B) or NRO account, or a remittance from abroad, never cash.
6. Register and mutate. Register the sale deed before the Sub-Registrar, then have your name entered in the revenue record.

We do this work for NRI clients from our office in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, by phone, WhatsApp, video call and email. For land in Maharashtra we run the searches, registration and mutation ourselves through your attorney. For land in another state we review the record and explain at the first consultation how the local searches and filings will be handled. Our agreement to sale with a title search report starts from Rs 18,000, and the wider work is on our NRI real estate legal services page.