India allows foreigners living overseas to open rupee accounts

This is provided they use the accounts for transactions with a resident of India.

India’s central bank is now allowing overseas branches of authorized banks to open rupee-denominated accounts for non-Indian citizens living overseas.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has amended Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) regulations to allow people residing outside India to open a Special Non-Resident Rupee Account (SBRR) for business purposes.

This includes accounts opened “for the purpose of putting through permissible current and capital account transactions with a person resident in India,” in accordance with regulations in India.

The move is part of the RBI’s steps to encourage the use of Indian rupee for trade transactions, particularly settlement of cross-border transactions, the central bank said in a statement published in January 2025.

Non-residents living overseas will also now be able to settle bona fide transactions with other persons resident outside India using the balances in their repatriable INR accounts such as Special Non-resident Rupee account and Special Rupee Vistro Account (SRVA).

They are also now allowed to use their balances held in repatriable INR accounts for foreign investment, including FDI, in non-debt instruments.