One of the most common questions we get is: Can NRIs buy commercial real estate in India?

Answer: Yes, NRIs buy commercial real estate/property in India. Under the general permission granted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), NRIs can buy/acquire property other than agricultural land/farm house/plantation property, provided the purchase consideration is met either out of inward remittances in foreign exchange through normal banking channels,or out of funds from the purchaser’s NRE/FCNR accounts maintained with banks in India and a declaration is submitted to the Central Office of Reserve Bank in form IPI 7 within a period of 90 days from the date of purchase of the property/final payment of purchase consideration.

You have to understand from where the Govt/RBI is coming. The country’s core assets like agricultural land has to be protected from large amounts of foreign capital acquiring large chunks of such land. RBI has no problems for buying regular commercial property in cities. As an NRI, your best bet will be to buy commercial property in India from reputed developers like DLF, IndiaBulls Real Estate, Orbit Corp, Marathon Nextgen etc.