Coming home for festivals? Use the time to put your finances in order

India is the land of festivals. Holi, Janmashtami, Onam, Ramzan Id, Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri, Christmas, Diwali, Gudi Padwa and so on, are celebrated with great gusto and spirit-irrespective of religious faith.

Besides, the cultural and mythological importance of each of these festivals makes it even more interesting in this land of diversity, which, perhaps one can’t experience in any other part of the world.

Even NRIs, feel the urge pack their bags to return to their homeland to celebrate festivals with friends, family and relatives ---it’s a homecoming for them.

India is also a land of opportunities – a worthy investment destination for wealth creation. This is why foreign investors are expressing confidence in the Indian economy and investing here.

If you are coming home this festival season, it is in the interest of your long-term financial well-being that you consider investing in India.

Some investment avenues for NRIs are:

-Fixed deposits
-Mutual Funds
-Equity shares
-Real Estate

But first you may want to open a savings account and use it for any expenses and investments while you are in India.

Consider the following accounts depending on your needs:

For funds sent to India

Open a non-resident (External) Account (NRE) with funds remitted to India through a bank abroad. This account can be held singly or jointly by two or more NRIs/PIOs or by NRI/PIO with Resident Individual–a relative, who can operate the account only as Power of Attorney (POA) holder.

The POA holder can operate the account for you only restricted to withdrawals for local payments or remittance to the account holder himself through banking channels.

An NRE account can be opened as a savings account, or term deposit. Note that, as an NRI, you are permitted to hold and maintain foreign currency earnings in Indian rupees in this account.

All the funds in the NRE account, along with the accrued interest thereon, are freely repatriable, that is, you can move your hard-earned money freely out of India. Moreover, the interest earned on this account is not taxable in India.

You can also avail a loan against the security of funds held in the NRE account. The loan can be forwarded to you, the account holder in India, but it cannot be repatriated outside India.

For income earned in India

If you have a potential income-generating source in India-be it rent, in terest, dividends, pension, etc, a Non-resident Ordinary Rupee (NRO) account is suitable.

This account is a rupee-denominated account and can be maintained in the form of a savings or recurring account, or fixed deposit. The accounts can be held jointly with residents and/or with non-residents.

The POA holder is allowed. As an NRI, you can grant it in favour of a resident individual.

You can easily deposit money into an NRO Account and make payments (towards utility bills, loan EMIs, etc), plus manage investments from this account.

When you, the NRI, move back to India on a permanent basis, the NRO Account may be re-designated as a resident Rupee account.

To open an NRE / NRO with Axis Bank, please click hereabout'NRO Account Online'

For equity investment

If you can handle some amount of risk, then you can look at investing in shares/equities., Axis Bank offers the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS) Account to buy and sell shares in the secondary market.

One of the top features of the PIS Account is that you can appoint a person you trust to operate this account, by providing a POA mandate. It could be your friend or relative. In addition, you can access the PIS Account at any given point in time (via secure internet banking facility and free iConnect).

Even better is the Axis Bank 4-in-1 NRI Investment Account. With this account you can invest in equity shares, including Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), participate in derivatives, transact in mutual funds (including Exchange Traded Funds), and.

Axis Bank’s 4-in-1 NRI Investment Account allows you to do all this online. This helps to keep your cost of investing low and transact with ease. Plus, it is possible to make investments over a phone call. Moreover, to help make prudent investment decisions, you get access to independent research from AxisDirect, and there are specialized tools and services as well.

If you wish to invest in gold, as part of portfolio diversification, you could look at either physical gold in the form of coins, bars and jewellery. Or you could look at financial instruments such as gold ETFs, gold saving funds and Sovereign Gold Bonds.

Remember, investing is a subjective exercise; hence, before you invest, take into account your risk profile, investment objectives, financial goals, and the investment time horizon, whereby you can allocate your hard-earned money more meaningfully in line with your goals.

To conclude

While festivals are a time to celebrate with family members and near and dear ones, take some time out to sort out your finances in your homeland. This will help your and your family’s financial well-being.

Disclaimer

This article is for information purpose only. The views expressed in this article are personal and do not necessarily constitute the views of Axis Bank Ltd. and its employees. Axis Bank Ltd. and/or the author shall not be responsible for any direct / indirect loss or liability incurred by the reader for taking any financial decisions based on the contents and information. Please consult your financial advisor before making any financial decision.