Q435. OCI can open PPF Account | NRI Banking in India

Question: Hi, Thanks for your information relating Bank Account opening by Foreign National in India. I want to know is that possible for a OCI Card holder to open PPF account in India. The person who is holding OCI card is staying in India since Oct-2011, submitting Income Tax in India. As per my knowledge PPF accounts can be opened by residents only. Thanks in advance for your responce. Regards Divyamanu

Answer: Eligibility for opening PPF account is based on being an Indian citizen and also being resident in India. Non-resident Indians (NRI’s) do not qualify. As per Overseas Citizen of India [OCI] scheme OCI holders have parity with NRIs in financial, economic and educational fields. If OCI is treated at par with NRIs and NRIs are not allowed to invest in PPF, then OCI holders cannot open new PPF account in India. While we are on the subject of bank accounts, technically such OCIs cannot continue to hold NRO or NRE accounts. This is because residents cannot have Non-Resident bank accounts. In such cases they are expected to re-designate their NRO accounts to Resident bank account. They can: 1. Open a resident account and move the balances of their NRO account into this account 2. Open a RFC account (Resident Foreign Currency) and transfer the balances in their NRE account into this account.