By Girish Chhalwani, Co-Founder, Lords of the Lands · 20+ years in Maharashtra land acquisition, tenure and plotted development · 9 min read · Last updated 28 September 2026

Resident buyers assemble documents as they go. NRIs cannot, because half of what you need has to be executed in another country, attested there, and posted. Getting the order wrong adds weeks to a transaction and occasionally kills it.

Here is the pack, split three ways, with the failure points marked.

Which identity and status documents does an NRI need?

Proof of who you are and your non-resident status: passport, OCI card and overseas visa or residence permit where they apply, PAN, overseas address proof, photographs, and a marriage certificate for a joint purchase — with PAN the biggest cause of avoidable delay.

Why PAN is the biggest single cause of avoidable delay

PAN is the most common cause of avoidable delay. It is needed for the transaction and for TDS, and applying for one from abroad takes time. Do it before you start looking, not after you have agreed a price.

What proof of a lawful money trail must an NRI keep?

A complete remittance trail: NRE, NRO or FCNR(B) statements, inward remittance advice or FIRC, payment instruments, matched seller receipts, any loan documents, and the TDS challan — all moved through banking channels, never in cash or foreign-currency notes.

This set matters more than buyers expect, because its real purpose is years away. When you eventually sell and want to repatriate proceeds, you will be asked to evidence that the original acquisition was funded lawfully. Reconstructing that from scratch is painful.

• NRE, NRO or FCNR(B) account statements covering the payments.
• Inward remittance advice or FIRC for funds sent from abroad.
• Bank payment instruments or transfer confirmations for each instalment.
• Receipts from the seller or developer matched to each payment.
• Loan sanction and disbursement documents, if you are financing.
• TDS challan and Form 26QB where tax is deducted on the purchase.

Two absolute rules on payment channels

Two absolute rules. Consideration must move through normal banking channels or a permitted NRE, NRO or FCNR(B) account. No part of it may be paid in foreign currency notes or traveller’s cheques, and no part of it should be paid in cash.

Keep this set together, digitally and physically, for as long as you hold the property.

What title and approval documents should the property itself have?

The ordinary diligence pack, produced by the seller and tested by your advocate: a current 7/12, the full mutation run, the tenure position, a zone certificate, the sanctioned layout, the MahaRERA entry, a thirty-year search, the title chain, access, demarcation and tax receipts.

This is the ordinary diligence pack, and it is the seller’s job to produce and your advocate’s job to test. For a plot in Maharashtra:

1. 7/12 extract (satbara), current and certified or digitally signed — and for an NRI, the document that establishes whether the parcel is agricultural, which decides whether you may buy at all.
2. Mutation register (ferfar) extracts, the full run, reconciled.
3. Tenure position — occupant Class I or II, and any restricted tenure.
4. Zone certificate or plan extract from the planning authority with jurisdiction.
5. Sanctioned layout plan showing your plot number, dimensions and abutting road width, with the sanction letter and its conditions.
6. MahaRERA registration entry, with the registered survey numbers matched to your plot.
7. Search and encumbrance report from your advocate, covering at least thirty years.
8. Chain of title deeds behind each mutation entry.
9. Access position — the village map and any registered easement.
10. Demarcation report from a licensed surveyor.
11. Latest tax receipts and evidence that no dues are outstanding.

Why is the power of attorney where NRI transactions break?

Because registration requires presence, most NRI purchases are completed by an attorney in India, so a defective POA — wrong attestation, a missed Indian stamping window, or powers too narrow for what the attorney must do — cannot be fixed quickly from abroad.

Most NRI purchases are completed by an attorney in India, because registration requires presence. The POA is therefore load-bearing, and a defective one cannot be fixed quickly from abroad.

Five points that must be right in the POA

What has to be right:

• Attestation. Executed before a notary abroad and then apostilled, where the country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, or attested at the Indian embassy or consulate where it is not.
• Stamping in India. A POA executed abroad generally has to be stamped in India within the prescribed period after it is first received in India. Missing that window creates a deficit-stamp problem.
• Scope. The powers must actually cover what the attorney will do — signing the agreement, paying, presenting for registration, admitting execution, taking possession, applying for mutation. A POA drafted for one step will stall at the next.
• Identification of the property. Specific enough to be usable, general enough not to exclude what is needed.
• The attorney. Someone you trust entirely, available in person, with identification documents ready.

Have the POA drafted or reviewed in India before you execute it abroad. A document that comes back for correction costs a fortnight each way.

What is the right order to buy Indian property?

Get PAN and an NRE/NRO account, then establish the parcel’s status as the gate before anything else, appoint an advocate for the title search, draft the POA in India before executing it abroad, agree terms, pay only through permitted channels, deduct TDS, register, and apply for mutation.

1. Get PAN, and open or confirm your NRE/NRO account.
2. Establish the parcel’s status — is it non-agricultural, and is it inside a sanction? This is the gate; nothing else matters if it fails.
3. Appoint an advocate in India and commission the title search and opinion.
4. Have the POA drafted in India, then execute and attest it abroad, then get it stamped in India.
5. Agree terms in writing, with the payment schedule tied to the banking channel.
6. Pay through permitted channels only, collecting receipts and remittance evidence as you go.
7. Deduct and deposit TDS where applicable, and keep the challan.
8. Register the instrument, in person or through the attorney.
9. Apply for mutation so the record reflects your name.
10. File the full pack — property, money and identity — somewhere you will still find it in ten years.

Step two before step five is the discipline that matters. NRIs who pay a booking amount before establishing the parcel’s status are the ones who end up negotiating from a weak position.

Where does this go wrong?

No PAN when it is needed, a POA with the wrong attestation or no Indian stamping, paying before the status check, any cash component, missed TDS, an incomplete money file, or relying on the seller’s copy set instead of an independent search.

No PAN when it is needed. Delays registration and TDS compliance.

A POA with the wrong attestation or no Indian stamping. The most common single failure, and the slowest to fix.

Paying before the status check. Especially fatal for an NRI, because the parcel’s agricultural status determines permissibility, not just risk.

Any cash component. Breaks the payment rule and contaminates the trail you will need to repatriate.

Missing TDS. The buyer is responsible for deducting and depositing it, and the consequences land on the buyer.

An incomplete money file. Discovered at the point of sale years later, when it is hardest to rebuild.

Relying on the seller’s copy set. Get certified or digitally signed extracts and an independent search.

How Lords of the Lands works with NRI buyers

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

For NRI and OCI buyers

• Can an NRI buy land in India? — the permitted-versus-barred rules
• Why NRIs cannot buy agricultural land — the status gate behind the checklist
• Can an NRI buy land in Maharashtra? — the state-specific version

The property’s title and approval pack

• The documents to check, in order — the diligence sequence
• How to read a 7/12 extract — the document that decides permissibility
• How to verify title before buying — commissioning the search remotely
• Title due-diligence checklist — what a clean chain contains
• How to check a MahaRERA number yourself — validity and quarterly progress
• RERA verification for plotted land — matching survey numbers to your plot
• The 7/12 other-rights column — the encumbrances buyers miss
• Property card and 8A, explained — the urban land record
• Class I vs Class II tenure — the tenure line in the pack

Money, duty and registration

• The true cost of buying a plot — budget the full outlay, not the price
• Stamp duty on a Raigad plot — the 2026 rates
• Registering a land sale in Maharashtra — the sub-registrar step, by POA
• Capital gains tax on land — what matters at the eventual exit

What to buy, and where

• Land vs plotted development — why a sanctioned layout is simpler for an NRI
• How to judge a project for yourself — from abroad, on documents
• The Khopoli-Pali road (SH-93) guide — our core corridor, survey by survey
• Karjat land prices in 2026 — a popular plotted belt
• Upper Alibaug land in 2026 — a premium coastal corridor
• What Lords of the Lands builds — the pack ready to send your advocate

Citations and sources

Sources: Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, Section 6(5); Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules, 2019, Rule 24 (permitted acquisition and modes of payment); Registration Act, 1908; Powers-of-Attorney Act, 1882 and the Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958 (stamping of instruments executed outside India); Income-tax Act, 1961 (TDS on transfer of immovable property). This article is general information current as of September 2026 and is not legal, tax or investment advice. Requirements vary by country of residence and by transaction — take advice from an advocate and a chartered accountant before you act. Official sources: RBI (FEMA / NRI) · Mahabhumi 7/12 (Bhulekh) · IGR Maharashtra.