Short answer: money in an NRO account can’t be sent abroad directly; money in an NRE account can. Moving funds NRO → NRE is how you unlock repatriation — allowed up to USD 1 million per financial year, after tax is paid, once you file Form 15CA and a CA’s Form 15CB. Want a quick read on your own case first? Try the repatriation eligibility checker.

Why the transfer is needed

An NRO account holds your India income — rent, dividends, pension, sale proceeds — and is not freely repatriable. An NRE account is. So to use your India money overseas, you move it NRO → NRE, and that step is what makes it repatriable. (Funds already in NRE or FCNR are freely repatriable and need none of this.)

The USD 1 million limit

You can repatriate up to USD 1 million per financial year (about ₹8.3 crore, moving with the exchange rate), cumulatively across all your NRO accounts. Larger balances are simply phased across financial years. Current income — rent, interest, dividends, pension — is repatriable after tax and generally sits outside this cap.

Step by step

  1. Confirm the source and tax. Establish where the NRO money came from and that the correct tax has been (or will be) paid on it. The transfer itself isn’t a taxable event — but the underlying income must be tax-paid.
  2. Get Form 15CB from a Chartered Accountant. This is the CA’s certificate confirming the nature of the remittance and that tax has been deducted/paid. (Not needed below ₹5 lakh of remittance in a year — see step 3.)
  3. File Form 15CA online. This is your declaration on the income-tax portal. Below ₹5 lakh in a year, only Part A of 15CA is required and 15CB is not; above that, 15CA references the 15CB.
  4. Submit to your bank. Give the bank the 15CA/15CB plus its own remittance form (Form A2 / FEMA declaration) and source-of-funds proof.
  5. Bank transfers NRO → NRE (and, if you wish, remits onward to your overseas account).

Documents you’ll typically need

  • PAN, and proof of the source of funds (e.g. sale deed, rent agreement, dividend statements).
  • Evidence the tax is paid (challans, TDS certificates, or the CA’s 15CB).
  • The bank’s A2 form / FEMA declaration.
  • For property or inheritance proceeds: the sale deed, and for inheritance the will/succession papers.

Timeline and common snags

Straightforward transfers clear in a few days to a couple of weeks once the paperwork is right. What causes delays:

  • Tax not settled on the underlying income — the bank won’t release funds.
  • 15CB / 15CA mismatch or missing source documents.
  • Inherited or gifted funds, which carry extra documentation and occasionally need RBI approval.

A note on the forms

From 1 April 2026, Forms 15CA/15CB are being renamed 145/146 under the new Income-tax Act — the requirement and the process are unchanged, and “15CA/15CB” remains the term most banks and NRIs still use.

How NRI360 helps

We check what’s repatriable, make sure the underlying income is correctly taxed, get the 15CB issued and 15CA filed, and hand your bank a complete package so the NRO → NRE transfer clears the first time. See our full NRO to NRE transfer service and repatriation / 15CA-15CB.

Figures and rules are indicative and current as of FY 2025-26; your exact position is confirmed in your free review.