Can OCI cardholders buy plots in Dholera?

Yes, residential and commercial property including N.A. and TP-scheme plots, in parity with NRIs under FEMA's general permission. Agricultural land, plantations and farmhouses remain excluded from fresh purchase.

Do OCIs need RBI permission?

No prior permission for permitted categories; standard banking-channel payment and documentation rules apply. The OCI card plus foreign passport plus PAN form the identity and tax backbone.

Can my non-OCI children inherit my Dholera plot?

Inheritance by foreign-citizen heirs is broadly permitted with its own compliance mechanics, and their later holding and repatriation positions depend on their status. An India-aware will plus one succession consultation is the cheap insurance here.

NRI desk

OCI card holders' guide

Aerial progress view of Dholera International Airport Phase 1 — Dholera airport Phase 1 from above · Photo: Sarvajanik Puralekh, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Answer first: for property purchase, OCI cardholders stand in parity with NRIs under FEMA's general permission: residential and commercial property yes (including N.A. and TP-scheme Dholera plots), agricultural land, plantation and farmhouse no. Payments route through NRE/NRO/FCNR channels or inward remittance, the OCI card plus foreign passport serve as identity backbone, and inheritance of even agricultural land remains permitted though fresh purchase is not. If you hold an OCI and someone told you buying in India is complicated, the property chapter at least is refreshingly clean.

The OCI population (foreign citizens of Indian origin) is Dholera's quietest large audience: second-generation professionals from Nairobi to New Jersey holding cards their parents secured. This page settles the questions they actually ask.

The parity rule, precisely

FEMA's property regime groups NRIs (Indian citizens abroad) and OCIs (foreign citizens of Indian origin holding the card) together for immovable-property purchases under the general permission: no prior RBI approval for residential and commercial acquisitions, unlimited count, standard banking-channel payment rules. The excluded categories match too: agricultural land, plantations, farmhouses. Practical Dholera translation: sanctioned-scheme plots and N.A. land are open to you exactly as to an NRI; the agricultural-costume traps our red flags guide documents are equally closed, and equally aimed at you.

The corridors this desk serves

Documents, succession and the long view

Purchase papers ride on your foreign passport plus OCI card, with PAN essential for the tax trail and registration. Succession planning deserves OCI-specific attention: your heirs may be foreign citizens without OCI status, and inheritance rules, while broadly permissive, interact with their status and future repatriation; a will drafted with Indian-property awareness costs little and saves much. Note also the inheritance asymmetry worth knowing: OCIs may inherit agricultural land they could not buy, relevant to families holding ancestral village land near the corridor.

Where OCIs should be extra alert

Two spots. Seller confusion: some registrars and developers process OCI purchases rarely and improvise requirements; our registration support pre-clears the checklist so the sub-registrar day is boring. And citizenship-based marketing: pitches claiming OCIs enjoy special schemes or face special bars are both usually wrong; parity is the rule, and any claimed exception deserves a source demand. Beyond that, every guide on this site applies to you unchanged: the checklist does not check passports.

OCI card holders' guide

The parity rule, precisely

Documents, succession and the long view

Where OCIs should be extra alert

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