A large share of Gurugram's premium inventory is bought by people who are not in the country. That works fine when the structure is right and goes badly when it is not — and the failures we have seen are almost never about choosing the wrong project. They are about payment routing, a power of attorney drafted too narrowly, or a property class an NRI was never allowed to buy.
Here is the framework, then the Gurugram-specific parts.
What you can and cannot buy
Under FEMA, an NRI or OCI may freely acquire residential and commercial immovable property in India. There is no cap on how many.
What is off-limits: agricultural land, plantation property and farmhouses. These require prior RBI approval, which is discretionary and rarely granted. You may inherit such property, or receive it as a gift from a resident relative, but you cannot purchase it.
Treat that restriction as a live risk rather than a footnote. Buying agricultural land in error is a FEMA contravention, and the exposure is severe — penalties can run to a multiple of the property value. The trap is real in districts where farmland is being marketed for housing: if you are looking at plots around Sonipat or Kundli or on Gurugram's outer edges, verify the land classification in the revenue record and ask for the Change of Land Use certificate. Inside licensed HSVP sectors in Gurugram this is rarely an issue. Outside them, it is the first thing to check.
How the money has to move
Payment must come through normal banking channels. In practice:
- Inward remittance from abroad, or funds from your NRE, NRO or FCNR account.
- No foreign currency cash, no traveller's cheques, no informal transfers. This is not a formality — it determines whether you can repatriate the proceeds later.
- Keep the paper trail. Bank statements, foreign inward remittance certificates and receipts, filed against the property. Repatriation years later is proved with these documents, and reconstructing them is painful.
Getting money back out
- Funds in NRE and FCNR accounts are freely repatriable.
- From an NRO account, repatriation is capped at USD 1 million per financial year, which covers most residential sale proceeds but is a real constraint on larger transactions.
- Repatriation runs through an Authorised Dealer bank with Form A2 and Forms 15CA/15CB, the latter requiring a chartered accountant's certificate.
- Sale proceeds of residential property bought with foreign exchange are repatriable, historically subject to a limit of two such properties. Confirm current conditions with your bank before you assume the route is open.
Tax: the part that costs NRIs money
- When you buy from a resident seller and consideration is Rs 50 lakh or more, you must deduct 1 percent TDS under Section 194-IA and deposit it. Yes, this obligation falls on you as buyer.
- When you sell, your buyer deducts TDS under Section 195, at rates materially higher than the 1 percent resident regime — commonly around 20 percent on long-term gains plus applicable surcharge and cess, and it is deducted on the whole consideration, not on your gain.
- That over-deduction is fixable in advance. Apply for a lower or nil deduction certificate from the income tax department before the sale closes. Most NRIs discover this after the buyer has already deducted, and then wait a year for a refund on money that was never taxable. Start the application early.
- DTAA relief. If you are tax resident in a country with a double taxation avoidance agreement with India, you may be able to claim credit. Get advice in both jurisdictions — Indian advice alone will not tell you your net position.
Power of attorney: get this right or nothing else matters
You will not be present for registration, bank formalities and handover. A POA is how someone acts for you, and it is where NRI transactions most often stall.
- Use a specific POA, not a general one. List the exact powers — execute and register the sale deed for this identified property, receive possession, sign bank documents, complete mutation. A general POA invites both misuse and rejection.
- Execute it correctly from abroad. Sign before the Indian Embassy or Consulate, or notarise and apostille it under the Hague Convention where applicable, then have it adjudicated and stamped in India. A POA that is not properly stamped and, where required, registered can be refused at the sub-registrar's office — and you will find out on the day.
- Choose your attorney carefully and keep the scope tight. Once you can travel, revoke it in writing.
The Gurugram-specific checks
- HARERA registration. Pull the project's registration from haryanarera.gov.in yourself and read the completion date the promoter filed. Compare it against what the sales team told you on a call. Distance makes you dependent on verbal assurances, so replace them with the public record.
- Buy in a licensed HSVP sector. The clean-title comfort you cannot easily verify from abroad is largely a function of the land being in a licensed sector grid.
- Circle rate and closing cost. The 1 April 2026 collector rate revision moved some corridors sharply — around 67 percent on the Dwarka Expressway side. Stamp duty in Haryana is charged on the higher of transaction value or circle rate. See our registry charges guide and note the stamp duty differential by gender if you are buying jointly or in a spouse's name.
- GST. Under-construction property attracts GST — broadly 5 percent without input credit for non-affordable housing and 1 percent for affordable. A completed property with its Occupation Certificate does not. That is a meaningful difference on a large ticket, and it should be part of your ready-versus-under-construction decision.
- Home loans are available to you. Indian banks lend to NRIs in rupees, with repayment from NRE or NRO funds or inward remittance. It is often worth borrowing in India rather than remitting the full amount, purely for the currency and rate arbitrage.
- Plan for property management. An empty flat in a city you visit twice a year deteriorates and attracts problems. Arrange maintenance payments, a tenant if you are letting it, and someone who physically visits.
What we would advise a first-time NRI buyer
Buy ready-to-move or near-completion for your first Gurugram purchase. You inspect a real apartment rather than a render, you skip GST, there is no construction-delay risk to monitor from a different time zone, and you can let it out immediately. The premium you pay over an under-construction unit is, for a remote buyer, usually money well spent.
On corridors: Dwarka Expressway if airport access matters, Golf Course Extension for the deepest rental market and easiest resale. Our safe investment guide covers risk screening in more detail.
Rules on FEMA, TDS and repatriation change, and your position depends on your residency status and the treaty that applies to you. Use this as a map and confirm the specifics with a chartered accountant and your Authorised Dealer bank before transferring money.
Tell us your budget, timeline and which country you are remitting from and we will handle the ground work — including verifying HARERA status and arranging the site visits you cannot make yourself.