Can NRI buy IPO in India?

Yes. By law, NRI can invest in Indian IPO of Equity Shares, NCD and Bonds. NRI IPO and Mutual Fund investment are permitted through the Non-PIS Account only (NRE or NRO Saving Bank Account without PIS permission).

It is left to the issuer company to allow NRIs to invest in an IPO. In almost all case, companies going public do not make NRIs eligible to invest in IPO. This is because allowing NRIs to invest in the IPO has additional compliance requirement by RBI. The issuer company is responsible to inform RBI about the shares allocated to NRI's.

NRIs do not need any special approvals from RBI to buy or sell IPO shares. The IPO investment-related bank transactions are done through Non-PIS saving bank account. They are not reported to RBI.

Investing in IPO in India is online and easy if you have an NRI 3-in-1 account with a bank.

If you have your demat account with a broker who doesn't offer 3-in-1 account (i.e. Zerodha, Sharekhan, 5Paisa, ProStocks), you can still apply in IPO using the net banking facility of the bank where you have your Non-PIS Saving Bank Account.

Note:

• The Red Herring Prospectus of the issuer company provides the detail of NRI eligibility to invest in IPO.
• Few banks like ICICI do not offer online IPO to NRI customers.