In a landmark fiscal announcement on Sunday, February 1, 2026, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented a transformative budget featuring six strategic measures specifically designed to catalyze investment from Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Indians. The comprehensive policy overhaul aims to channel substantial NRI capital into India’s economic growth narrative while counterbalancing recent foreign institutional investor outflows that have pressured the rupee.
The centerpiece of these reforms is the significant liberalization of the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS). The budget doubles the per-investor equity limit from 5% to 10% for Persons Resident Outside India (PROIs), while simultaneously raising the aggregate investment ceiling for all individual PROIs from 10% to 24%. This groundbreaking change enables direct equity investments in Indian listed companies through the PIS route.
Beyond market access reforms, the budget introduces substantial tax facilitations. The government has eliminated the mandatory requirement for resident individuals to obtain a Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number (TAN) when purchasing immovable property from non-residents. Additionally, small taxpayers holding foreign assets will benefit from a new time-bound disclosure scheme for declaring foreign assets and income, addressing historical non-compliance issues through a structured fee-based resolution mechanism.
The fiscal package also excludes specified non-resident businesses currently under presumptive taxation from Minimum Alternate Tax requirements. Particular exemptions extend to operators of cruise ships and providers of services or technology for establishing electronics manufacturing facilities in India.
Complementary measures include enhanced passenger facilitation through increased duty-free allowances and permission to import new laptops, alongside customs rationalization and reforms to Tax Collected at Source (TCS) provisions. Collectively, these initiatives represent India’s strategic positioning as a premier investment destination for its global diaspora.