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Yes. An eligible NRI can generally remit money inherited from an Indian bank account to an overseas bank account, subject to FEMA eligibility, proof of inheritance, the applicable remittance limit and Indian tax requirements.
Under the Reserve Bank of India’s remittance-of-assets framework, eligible NRIs and persons of Indian origin may ordinarily remit up to USD 1 million per Indian financial year from specified Indian assets, including qualifying inherited money. Where the remittance under this facility exceeds USD 1 million in the financial year, prior RBI approval is required.
But three separate questions must be answered before the money reaches an overseas account: who can claim it from the deceased person’s bank, who is legally entitled to inherit it, and which outward-remittance route FEMA permits.
Legal period: Indian rules applicable to remittances from 1 April 2026, with earlier income-tax provisions identified where relevant. Source verification is recorded separately.
Can an NRI remit inherited money from an Indian bank account?
The general permission comes from the Foreign Exchange Management (Remittance of Assets) Regulations, 2016, particularly Regulation 4, read with RBI Master Direction No. 13/2015-16.
Regulation 4(2) permits eligible NRIs and persons of Indian origin to remit up to USD 1 million per financial year through an authorised dealer, subject to prescribed conditions.
The permitted sources include qualifying NRO account balances, sale proceeds of assets and assets acquired in India by inheritance or legacy.
For this purpose, an NRI is an Indian citizen resident outside India under FEMA. The applicable RBI definition of a person of Indian origin also includes eligible OCI cardholders.
The authorised dealer must be satisfied about the remitter’s FEMA eligibility, the source and character of the funds and the required supporting documents. Beneficial entitlement under succession law remains a separate question.
The USD 1 million ceiling applies to the relevant facility for the financial year, not separately to each inherited deposit. India’s financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March.
Where a qualifying remittance is made in instalments, the applicable rules require the instalments to be routed through the same authorised dealer.
What if the inherited amount exceeds USD 1 million?
Under paragraph 4.1 of the RBI Remittance of Assets Master Direction, prior RBI approval is necessary for remittances exceeding USD 1 million per financial year under the specified NRI/PIO inheritance and NRO-assets facility.
RBI approval is not automatic.
An independently available FEMA permission, where relevant, must be evaluated under its own conditions. The USD 1 million facility should not be treated as a universal ceiling for every form of account transfer or receipt that FEMA may otherwise permit.
What if the beneficiary is a foreign citizen but not an OCI?
The eligibility rules are narrower.
Regulation 4(1) provides specified permissions for foreign citizens who are not PIOs, including certain inheritances from persons covered by section 6(5) of FEMA and qualifying cases involving a non-resident widow or widower.
The provision also contains nationality exclusions.
A foreign citizen inheriting an Indian bank balance should not assume that the same permission available to an eligible NRI or OCI automatically applies.
The controlling facts include the beneficiary’s nationality and FEMA residence, the deceased person’s status and the legal basis on which the assets were inherited.
Must the inherited bank balance first be claimed from the deceased person’s bank?
Normally, the bank must establish whom it can pay under its deceased-depositor settlement procedure.
The person authorised to receive the bank balance is not necessarily the person who owns it under succession law.
The RBI’s Commercial Banks Responsible Business Conduct Directions, 2025 provide detailed procedures for settling deceased-depositor claims at the commercial banks covered by those directions.
Other categories of banks may be governed by corresponding RBI directions. The applicable bank category should be identified before relying on a particular documentary threshold or procedure.
When there is a registered nominee
Where a valid nomination exists, the bank can ordinarily settle the account with the nominee after satisfying the prescribed conditions.
These include establishing the depositor’s death, verifying the nominee’s identity and ensuring that no relevant court order restrains payment.
Under paragraphs 284 to 286 of the commercial-bank directions, a qualifying payment to a nominee or survivor gives the bank a valid discharge of its liability.
The bank cannot insist on probate, a succession certificate, letters of administration or an indemnity merely because the deposit balance is substantial, where the prescribed nomination or survivorship conditions are met.
The standard claim documents include the claim form, death certificate and officially valid identity and address document.
However, the directions expressly preserve the rights of the deceased depositor’s legal heirs. The nominee receives payment in the capacity described by RBI as a trustee of those heirs.
For example, a father might nominate one daughter for his savings account while leaving other legally entitled heirs.
The bank may settle the account with the daughter. That settlement does not establish that she can treat the entire amount as her personal inheritance.
Her actual beneficial entitlement remains a separate matter.
When there is no nomination or survivorship clause
Where no valid nomination or applicable survivorship arrangement exists, the bank follows the relevant legal-heir claim procedure.
For commercial banks covered by the RBI directions, an eligible simplified procedure applies to specified undisputed claims within the bank’s prescribed threshold.
The RBI threshold is ₹15 lakh, or a higher amount fixed by the bank. The precise procedure depends on the claim amount and the conditions specified in the directions.
The simplified process ordinarily requires that there is no will, competing claim or relevant restraining court order.
The bank may require an appropriate claim form, death certificate, identity evidence, indemnity, disclaimers from non-claimant heirs where applicable, and prescribed legal-heir evidence or an accepted independent declaration.
Different documentation can apply to claims above the relevant threshold.
Where the deceased left a will, probate or letters of administration may be required under the applicable procedure. The RBI directions also provide for limited bank discretion concerning an authentic, undisputed will where applicable law permits.
Contested claims may require a court order or other appropriate judicial document.
The documents that establish a bank’s authority to release money should not automatically be described as sufficient to determine every disputed inheritance entitlement.
How long should the bank take?
Under paragraph 319 of the applicable commercial-bank directions, a deceased-depositor deposit claim must be settled within 15 calendar days after the bank receives all required documents.
The period does not necessarily start on the date of death or when an incomplete application is submitted.
The directions also provide a compensation mechanism for bank-attributable delay.
This settlement deadline is distinct from the time required to complete an outward foreign-exchange remittance.
Does it matter whether the deceased held an ordinary, NRO, NRE or FCNR(B) account?
Yes. The account type can change the applicable settlement and remittance route.
| Deceased person’s account | Main question |
|---|---|
| Resident savings account or fixed deposit | How is the balance lawfully settled, credited to the beneficiary and subsequently remitted? |
| NRO account | How do the deceased-depositor claim, permissible beneficiary credit and NRO remittance conditions interact? |
| NRE account | Does the specific rule permitting transfer of a deceased NRE account holder’s balance to a non-resident nominee apply? |
| FCNR(B) deposit | Which NRE-linked conditions, deposit settlement rules and currency requirements apply? |
RBI’s Deposits and Accounts Master Direction contains a specific provision for a deceased NRE account holder.
Paragraph 4.10 permits the balance to be transferred to the non-resident nominee. Requests by resident nominees to remit funds abroad for liabilities of the deceased or similar purposes are addressed separately.
The FCNR(B) framework incorporates relevant NRE account conditions, but the actual settlement and remittance method must follow the applicable deposit rules.
These account-specific permissions remain distinct from ultimate succession entitlement.
Not every inherited Indian bank balance must necessarily pass through an NRO account before it can be transferred abroad.
The source account, beneficiary’s status and permitted account operations must first be identified.
Can qualifying NRO balances be transferred to NRE?
Yes, where the applicable FEMA conditions are met.
RBI permitted eligible NRO-to-NRE transfers within the USD 1 million facility before 2026. This permission was expressly recognised in RBI’s circular dated 7 May 2012.
The Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2026 updated the deposit rules by expressly providing for eligible NRO-to-NRE transfers and extending the relevant permissions to SNRR accounts.
The current regulatory framework therefore recognises eligible NRO-to-NRE and NRO-to-SNRR transfers within the remittance-of-assets limit.
This does not make an SNRR account a routine or compulsory inheritance account. The recipient must independently qualify for the account and the proposed transaction.
Likewise, a transfer to NRE does not establish beneficial inheritance entitlement or eliminate any Indian income-tax obligation.
What documents are ordinarily required to remit inherited bank money abroad?
The records should establish both the deceased-depositor claim and the permitted outward remittance.
| Evidence category | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| Death certificate | The depositor’s death |
| Bank statement or fixed-deposit record | The deposit and balance concerned |
| Nomination, survivorship arrangement, will or succession documentation, as applicable | The basis on which the claimant receives the funds |
| Bank settlement advice and subsequent account statements | The trail of funds from the deceased account to the beneficiary |
| Passport, OCI record where applicable, residence and KYC documents | The remitter’s relevant regulatory identity |
| Inheritance or legacy evidence | The source and character of funds |
| Relevant financial-year remittance history | The amount already used under the applicable annual facility |
| Tax records and remittance declarations, where required | Compliance with applicable Indian income-tax provisions |
| Overseas bank details | The destination of the proposed transfer |
Not every document listed is compulsory in every case.
A valid nominee claim may be settled without probate under the applicable RBI conditions. A disputed succession claim may require more extensive evidence.
The authorised dealer also examines the proposed funds transfer against its applicable FEMA obligations.
For remittances from NRO balances under the remittance-of-assets framework, the relevant RBI direction specifies an undertaking concerning legitimate receivables and the absence of prohibited funding through borrowings or transfers from another NRO account.
The document trail should answer a precise question: what money is being transferred, whose money is it, how was it received and which permission allows it to move?
Is inherited bank money taxable in India?
A genuine inheritance receipt and income earned on the inherited funds are separate income-tax questions.
For periods governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961, section 56(2)(x) excludes money or property received under a will or by way of inheritance from the specified charge on receipts without consideration.
For periods governed by the Income-tax Act, 2025, section 92(3)(c) provides the corresponding exclusion from section 92(2)(m).
Accordingly, a genuine inheritance receipt satisfying the relevant statutory conditions is not taxed in India merely as a receipt without consideration under those provisions.
This does not create a general exemption for every amount connected with the deceased person’s deposit.
For example, interest accrued before death, interest attributable to the period of estate administration and interest earned after the beneficiary receives the funds can raise different attribution and taxation questions.
The correct treatment depends on the accrual period, the person to whom the income is legally attributable, that person’s tax status and the applicable income-tax law.
A bank credit of ₹18 lakh does not establish that the entire amount is taxable income. Equally, it does not prove that the balance contains no income requiring examination.
The subsequent transfer of inherited principal abroad should also not be confused with a fresh receipt of income in India merely because an outward remittance occurs.
The inheritance receipt, deposit income, withholding obligations and remittance declarations must be distinguished.
Are Forms 145 and 146 required for inherited-money remittances?
Forms 145 and 146 are the successors to Forms 15CA and 15CB for applicable remittances from 1 April 2026.
Rule 220 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 governs information furnished in connection with specified payments to non-residents.
It distinguishes payments chargeable under the Act from sums not chargeable under the Act.
When the sum is chargeable to Indian income tax
Rule 220(1) provides different reporting routes.
Part A of Form 145 applies within the prescribed ₹5 lakh aggregate threshold for chargeable payments during the tax year.
For amounts exceeding that threshold, Part B or Part C applies according to the relevant Assessing Officer certificate or order, or accountant’s certificate in Form 146.
Where Part B is furnished on the qualifying Assessing Officer basis, Part C is not additionally required.
The ₹5 lakh figure is an information-reporting threshold for specified chargeable payments. It is not a separate FEMA inheritance-remittance allowance.
When the sum is not chargeable to Indian income tax
Rule 220(2) ordinarily provides for Part D of Form 145.
However, Rule 220(3) contains exceptions in which the prescribed information is not required.
One exception refers to qualifying remittances by individuals under the specified FEMA current-account rules. Another identifies prescribed payment categories by RBI purpose code.
The listed categories include S1301 for non-resident remittances towards family maintenance and savings.
Neither the fact that money was inherited nor the fact that it is moving to the remitter’s own overseas bank account automatically establishes an exemption from Rule 220.
The statutory character of the transaction, the applicable payment category and the prescribed exceptions must be established before determining whether Form 145, Form 146 or no information filing is required.
An inheritance remittance should not be classified under an unrelated purpose code merely to avoid a filing requirement.
Equally, it would be incorrect to state that a Chartered Accountant’s Form 146 certificate is compulsory for every remittance of inherited bank principal.
Indian tax compliance and FEMA remittance permission are separate requirements. An authorised dealer must follow the applicable obligations under both.
Example: An NRI daughter receives ₹18 lakh from her father’s bank
Consider an Indian citizen living in the United States whose father dies in India.
The father held ₹18 lakh in an Indian resident savings account. His daughter was the registered nominee.
Assume the bank receives the prescribed identity and death documents and that no court order restrains the nominee’s receipt.
Under the applicable commercial-bank nomination procedure, the bank may settle the deposit without requiring probate or a succession certificate merely because the balance is ₹18 lakh.
But the father also left other legal heirs.
The daughter’s status as nominee does not establish that she beneficially owns the entire ₹18 lakh.
The bank-settlement position and inheritance entitlement must therefore be considered separately.
If her entitlement to an identified amount is established, the next questions concern her FEMA residence, citizenship, permissible bank-account route, relevant financial-year remittance history and supporting records.
The Indian tax treatment of the genuine inheritance receipt is a separate question. The tax reporting requirements for the actual outward transfer must also be examined.
This illustration does not assume that all ₹18 lakh belongs to the daughter or that the full amount qualifies for immediate remittance.
It demonstrates why payment by a bank, beneficial inheritance and FEMA remittance permission are distinct legal outcomes.
Does the country where the NRI lives matter?
Yes.
Permission to remit inherited money from India does not determine its treatment in the beneficiary’s country of residence.
That country may have separate inheritance, estate, income-tax or reporting rules.
The relevant foreign-country requirements should be examined under the law of that country, where appropriate by a qualified professional there.
A completed Indian bank transfer is not evidence that all overseas tax and reporting obligations have been satisfied.
What should you establish before requesting the transfer?
The controlling facts are the beneficiary’s legal entitlement, FEMA residential status and nationality, the original bank account type, the source and movement of the inherited funds, the proposed remittance amount, previous transfers under the applicable facility and the relevant Indian tax requirements.
For inherited bank balances, the bank’s authority to settle an account, the beneficiary’s succession entitlement and the authorised dealer’s FEMA permission belong to different legal inquiries.
The bank may have discharged its liability. That does not, by itself, establish inheritance ownership or permission to remit the funds abroad.
Once the relevant entitlements, permissions and documentary requirements are established, the appropriate remittance procedure can be followed.
Primary Indian authorities
- Foreign Exchange Management (Remittance of Assets) Regulations, 2016, especially Regulation 4.
- RBI Master Direction No. 13/2015-16, Remittance of Assets, paragraphs 3.1, 3.2, 4.1 and 5.
- RBI Master Direction No. 14/2015-16, Deposits and Accounts, Part II.
- Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2026.
- RBI Commercial Banks Responsible Business Conduct Directions, 2025, especially deceased-depositor claims and settlement procedures.
- Income-tax Act, 1961, section 56, and Income-tax Act, 2025, section 92.
- Income-tax Rules, 1962, Rule 37BB, and Income-tax Rules, 2026, Rule 220, according to the relevant remittance period.
This article concerns general Indian legal, tax and banking rules. It does not determine an individual beneficiary’s inheritance rights, tax liability, entitlement to remit or foreign-country obligations.
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