Five days, three that matter — and one of them is about gold rather than sweets. Most “best way to buy gold” advice is written for residents, and the two best options in it are ones you legally cannot use.
Dhanteras is the day India buys gold, and the advice you will read everywhere this week is written for residents. Two of the instruments it recommends are not open to an NRI at all. Here is the honest version.
If you bought SGBs while you were still a resident, you may hold them to early redemption or maturity. You simply cannot subscribe to a new tranche once you are an NRI.
Remittance volume into India spikes through Diwali week. Rates do not improve for waiting, and the slow part is rarely the FX — it is the receiving bank's festival-week backlog.
To a relative — parents, siblings, spouse, lineal ascendants and descendants, and the rest of the Section 56(2) list — a gift is exempt in their hands at any value. No limit, no form, no filing.
To anyone else, gifts totalling more than ₹50,000 in a financial year become taxable in the recipient's hands — and on the whole amount, not just the part above the threshold.
There is no cap on money you have earned abroad and send to your own or your family's NRE/NRO account. The ₹2.5 lakh figure people quote is the LRS limit, which governs residents sending money out of India — the opposite direction to yours.
Compare live rates across Wise, XE and Remitly before the festival-week backlog — and check what your bank's NRE rate is actually paying while you are there.
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