🌍 NRE Account · Non-Resident External
The NRE account — for money you earn abroad
Updated May 2026
For foreign income brought into India — your overseas salary, Wise / XE transfers, remittances. The principal converts to rupees on deposit; interest is paid in rupees and is tax-free in India.
How NRE actually works
- Principal and interest fully repatriable — send it back anytime, no cap
- Cannot deposit Indian-source income here (rent, dividends, gifts) — that's a FEMA violation
- Joint account with another NRI only (no resident Indian)
- Best account to receive your inward Wise / Remitly / XE / bank-wire transfers into
- Minimum balance: NIL at IDFC First and Federal Bank · ₹10,000 monthly avg at ICICI / HDFC / Axis · ₹25,000 at Kotak · ₹3,000 quarterly at SBI
Who can open one
Indian passport holders living abroad: just passport + foreign address proof. OCI not required. · Foreign passport holders of Indian origin (US, UK, Canada citizens etc.): need an OCI card to qualify as NRI under FEMA. · Foreign nationals without Indian origin: not eligible.
Common myth: "you lose money in NRE on currency transfer"
Two separate things people conflate. The FX spread + wire fee on USD→INR remittance (0.4–0.6% via Wise/XE, 1–2% via bank wire) is a real cost but applies to any remittance method, not unique to NRE. The INR depreciation risk between when you funded the NRE and when you convert back to USD applies to any INR holding. The NRE account itself doesn't lose anything — it earns standard Indian FD rates and is fully repatriable. If you want zero INR exposure entirely, FCNR is the answer.
Best for NRE: ICICI Bank — online opening, no India visit needed
Open ICICI NRE →
Which bank to open NRE at?
5-question selector matches you to a bank based on residence, minimum balance preference, online vs branch, and FD vs savings priority.
Up next
Step 3 of 5 — KYC documents
PAN card, passport, OCI card, address proof. What's required for online NRE opening.
→