What type of NRI Bank Account is required to trade in stocks?

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To buy and sell shares in India, NRIs need PIS NRE or Non-PIS NRO savings bank accounts. PIS (Portfolio Investment Scheme) is an RBI scheme for NRI to invest in India.

The NRE PIS Bank Account is for the transfer of income earned abroad to India. The fund in this account is repatriable. The interest earned from these accounts is tax-exempt. This account is used commonly for NRI stock market investment in India.

The NRO Non-PIS Saving Bank Account is to manage NRIs income in India like rent, dividend, pensions, etc. It is a non-repatriable account. An NRI can use NRO Non-PIS Account for stock market investment but the funds in the account are non-repatriable.

Read NRE vs NRO Account to understand in detail about key differences about NRE & NRO accounts.

Note that all the transactions done through PIS Account are reported to RBI daily by the bank. Earlier, the PIS account was required to invest in stock markets on repatriation as well as non-repatriation basis. However, with a change in rules, RBI has waived the PIS requirement for trading on a non-repatriation basis i.e via NRO account. The PIS account should only be used for stock market investments by the NRI. For all other transactions, an NRI should use Non-PIS bank accounts.