Indian Cos can grant rupee loans to NRIs or PIOs: RBI

MUMBAI: Reserve Bank of India has granted general permission to Indian companies to grant Rupee loans to its employees, who are Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) or Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs), subject to certain conditions, making it easier for them to take housing loans.
The loan should be granted only for personal purposes, including purchase of housing property in India and in accordance with lender''s Staff Welfare Scheme/Staff Housing Loan Scheme and subject to other terms and conditions applicable to its staff resident in India, RBI said in a notification here today.
The lender should credit the loan amount to the borrower''s non-resident ordinary (NRO) account in India or should ensure credit to such account by specific indication on the payment instrument, it said.
The loan agreement should also specify that the repayment of loan would be by way of remittance from outside India or by debit to non-resident external (NRE) or NRO or foreign currency non-resident (FCNR) account of the borrower and the lender would not accept repayment by any other means, RBI added.