Difference between Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Fixed Deposit (FD) for Long term

In this article, we will understand the difference between two of the best investment option of conservative investors, PPF or Public Provident Fund and Fixed Deposit, known as FD. Both PPF and FD provides the capital guarantee and considered the safest investment. PPF is even backed by the government while FD is backed by banks and RBI, but which one is better for long term investment. Where should one put his hard earned money for long-term growth with a guarantee, we will find it for this post?  

3 Best Bank to Open NRI Savings Account India - HDFC vs Kotak vs ICICI Bank

Recently I was doing some research to open an NRI Savings account in India, and given there are so many banks, both public and private sector are providing NRI services, I thought to do some quick checks on the best NRI savings account I can get this moment. One of my friends suggested I open your NRI Savings account in HDFC bank, the other suggested that he has an account in Kotak Mahindra and is very happy with their services, especially rather offered on their remittance service click2Remit.

What happens to NRE, FCNR, NRO Bank accounts when NRIs return back India?

One of the most common doubt among Non Resident Indians related to NRI accounts are, what will happen to their NRE, FCNR, and NRO account when they return back to India? Even though you are not coming back in near future its good to know what happens to NRI account when you are no longer Non Resident Indian. When an NRI returns to India for permanent stay his various NRI accounts are converted into equivalent resident accounts. NRO saving account is converted back to resident saving account while NRE and FCNR account is converted into RFC (Resident Foreign currency) account.

Pros and Cons of Public Provident Fund (PPF) Account for Tax Saving on India

If you are an Indian, I am sure you must have heard about Public Provident Fund or PPF, one of the most popular long-term saving scheme backed by the government of India. If not about PPF, then definitely about EPF, Employee Provident Fund, it's big brother. Since EPF is sort of mandatory and your employer deduct some portion of your salary apart from his contribution, it's not something you worry about. By the way, if you want to check your EPF account balance, you can see it here. PPF investment is a similar product for any citizen of India through NRI can not open PPF account in India, it's only for residents of India. 

Migration to Australia, NewZeland, USA, UK, and Singapore More Difficult for Indian IT Professional Now

This month, particularly this week, starting from 18th April was pretty bleak for Indian IT professional looking for migration and an onsite opportunity to Australia, NewZeland, and the USA. Things were not easy from quite some time where many firms all over the world chopping and moving workforces from high-cost location to low-cost location and thus reducing the onsite opportunity for a large number of ambitious Indian IT guys working in service-based companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, and CTS. Things have started getting even worse due to a series of VISA reforms done by these nations to employ more stricter policies on immigrants has made the onsite dream of Indian IT professional even more difficult.

How to appoint a Mandate Holder in NRE or NRO account?

Mandate Holder is a unique facility many private sector banks like ICICI and HDFC bank provides to NRI customers. According to this faculty, NRE/NRO account holder can appoint a resident Indian (a family member only) to manage your account on your behalf. Since, being an NRI, you cannot physically be present in India to handle your financial matters for most of the year, having a mandate holder really helps.

What is FCNR Fixed or Term deposits? Should NRI Invest?

Should you Invest in FCNR fixed or term deposit?
FCNR (Foreign Currency Non Resident) deposit is another way NRI can invest money in fixed deposit, this is the third option for Indians staying abroad along with more popular NRE and NRO Fixed deposit. Since deregulation of the interest rate on FCNR deposit earlier this year, In an attempt to arrest Rupee slide against USD and attract more dollars from NRI customers, FCNR deposit has become an attractive alternative for NRI.

Can you add Nominee in your NRE or NRO account? Saving and Fixed deposit

Yes, you can add any family member or close relatives as a nominee in your NRE account. Almost all the banks, both public sector like SBI, Bank of Baroda and private sector banks e.g. ICICI, HDFC, Axis Bank provides nomination facility. This is one thing many NRI customers either avoid doing it or they just don't know about it, but I strongly suggest you have a nomination in all of your bank accounts, not just the NRE, NRO or FCNR account. Nomination allows hassle-free transfer of funds in case of any unfortunate things because the last thing you want your family members or dependent on spending month and year to claim your hard earned money from banks. 

NRE or NRO Savings Account – Which one NRI should open? Differences

NRE or NRO savings account, which should I open is first doubt comes in mind of any Non Resident Indian (NRI), who wants to open saving accounts in India on Indian banks like ICICI bank, SBI bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and several other public sector banks which offer this facility like Bank of Baroda. NRE and NRO are two kinds of accounts any NRI can open in India, NRE stands for Non Resident External while NRO stands for Non Resident Ordinary account, though both can be held by Indians there are many differences between them and based upon your need you need to choose to open either NRE or NRO account in India. Almost all major banks both public sector and private sector like SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra allow NRI Indian to open both NRE and NRO account.

Difference between NEFT and RTGS or IMPS Interbank Fund transfer India

NEFT and RTGS are two main ways of electronically transferring money between two banks in India using net banking accounts. Suppose you have a resident, NRI or NRO account from ICICI bank and want to transfer money to your family member or third party, which has account in HDFC bank, then you can either use NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) or RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) depending upon, how much money you want to transfer. A third way, rather new way of money transfer between banks is IMPS (Interbank Mobile Payment Service or Immediate Payment Service) was introduce in 2010 by the National Payments Corporation of India to empower customers to transfer money instantly.

Good time to invest in NRE Fixed Deposit in India

Why Invest in NRE Fixed Deposit in India?
NRE Fixed Deposit is very hot at this moment with soaring interest rate and very lucrative Exchange rates from USD to INR, SGD to INR and from other foreign currencies. For all those Indian who are living abroad or working abroad mostly my fellow IT Professionals, it’s good to invest in NRE Fixed deposit in India. As we know the successful key of Savings and Investment is diversification and Fixed Income forms a big part of it and always say that at least have your 50% money in Fixed deposits because of liquidity, security and ease of investment as an option it provides. 

Recurring deposit for NRI – latest offering from Indian banks

Recurring deposit for NRI customers
NRI recurring deposit is a new investment option offered by many Indian banks like HDFC Bank, SBI, ICICI and Kotak Mahindra, after their successful run with NRI fixed deposit. With almost 25-30% rise in exchange rates of USD to INR during the span of one year has made remitting money to India and investing in recurring and fixed deposit a lucrative option. Recurring deposit for NRI is available on HDFC bank and it may also available through other banks like Kotak Mahindra which I yet to check.

NRI can use Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) to save tax

NRIs are always in doubt with taxation and many times they end up by paying double tax on same income, both in the foreign country they are currently working and staying and on India. In order to avoid this double taxation of income, the home and the source country mutually enter into tax treaty generally known as DTAA. India has signed DTAA treaty with more than 80+ countries, which includes the USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, Germany, Australia etc.

Why open RFC (Resident Foreign Currency) Savings Account or Fixed Deposit

An RFC (Resident Foreign Currency) Savings Account is a savings account maintained in foreign currencies e..g USD, CAD, EURO or GBP for NRIs who have returned to India for good but has some foreign currency fund to park. One of the main reason of opening RFC account is that you can also open the RFC account as term deposit to park your foreign currency, which you can later transfer into NRE or FCNR accounts when you gain your NRI status back like when you moved to abroad again.

Difference between Re-issue and Renewal of Indian Passport

If you are an NRI, currently outside India and your passport's expiry is near then you might be thinking about re-issue of passport, but if you are confused between renewal and re-issue of an Indian passport then you have come to right place. There is a difference between Re-issue and Renewal of a passport. Passports are Re-issued after the expiry of their 10-year validity period.

Can NRI take Personal Loans in India? Which is the best bank to take NRI Person loan?

Yes, NRIs can take personal loans in India, nothing stops them except the bank which are giving Personal loans. Unfortunately, even though, all the public sector banks e.g. SBI, Bank of Baroda, Punjab national bank, private sector e.g. ICICI, HDFC, Axis bank, YESBank, Standard chartered, Federal bank, and even non-banking financial institution like Tata Capital, LIC finance are offering home loans to NRI but no one is providing personal loans to NRIs.

Why and How NRI Should open NPS (National Pension Scheme) Account

In my last post, can NRI invest in National Pension Scheme, I told you that NRIs are now allowed to open NPS accounts, it's time to share more information about NPS like why an NRI should invest in National Pension Scheme. One of the main reason NRI should open NPS account is to build their retirement or pension corpus in India. Since many NRI working abroad don't have any kind of social security, especially those who are working in middle east and gulf country. For all Non-resident Indians, this is now a golden chance to plan for their old age income.

How to find if returning NRI is a Resident but not Ordinarily resident (RNOR) and Tax benefit? Example

Let me answer the second question first to convince you why a returning NRI would like to find out whether he is a resident or a non-ordinarily reside (RNOR)? Well, there is big tax benefit of filing income tax return in India as RNOR i.e.  Resident But Not Ordinarily Resident, unlike ROR (Resident and Ordinarily Resident) whose global incomes in taxed in India e.g. interest earned on foreign currency fixed deposit kept abroad or in FCNR account or in RFC account in India, RNOR is asked to pay tax only on income earned in India.