60-day financial checklist after returning to India

We’ve previously written a 60-day financial checklist before returning to India (feel free to read that before reading this one).

1. Set up your phone number and link your Aadhar, PAN Cards

One thing to know is you need an OTP for everything in India. Get an Indian number (Airtel and Jio are good carriers) and link it to your Aadhaar and PAN card. If you’re now on an OCI card, check the Aadhaar eligibility rules because you generally need 182 days of stay in India first.

1. Take some time to learn the new landscape

UPI has replaced cash and mostly cards too. It's an instant payment method by QR code, and PhonePe, Paytm, and Google Pay all run on the same rails, so pick any one. Set it up once your resident account and Indian number are sorted. Then there's the convenience layer: Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart deliver groceries in 10-20 minutes. And a good to know for domestic travel: DigiYatra gets you through airport security on face recognition (they’ve recently extended this to international flights as well).

1. Redesignate your accounts

You’ll need to redesignate your NRE and NRO accounts to resident, and the bank won't do it on its own. Check in with your local bank, and you might have to do an in-person KYC process. KYC is just the identity check every Indian financial institution has to run on you. 

Some banks will ask you to keep NRE/NRO accounts up to 6 months after return, but that’s because they’re most likely aligning their expectations with Income tax rules that define an Indian resident with who’s spent 182+ days in India. But FEMA rules state, if you've come back to work or to settle for good, you're a resident from the day you land. So keep in mind, the six months isn't a grace period. If you hold an OCI card or a foreign passport, same answer. RBI is clear that these accounts are for Indians living outside India.

1. Don't fall for the schemes your bank sells you

You've returned with money and your bank RM can see your balance on screen. Expect a ULIP or a guaranteed return plan, sometimes framed as part of the process. So be cautious, these products carry long lock-ins with commission priced in, so the exit is expensive and misselling is extremely common in India.

1. Don't assume your remittance apps will still work

The apps you used to send money home were built for one direction. Going the other way, you can only use an RBI-authorised channel, which in practice means your bank or a licensed forex dealer. It falls under LRS, the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, which caps you at USD 250,000 per person per financial year. 

1. Sort health insurance (especially if you’re on a break post return)

Get this from day one, especially if you're between jobs, because employer cover disappears the day you switch. Look at the cover amount for your city, the waiting period for pre-existing conditions (can run up to three years) and any co-pay or room rent cap. Answer the health questions honestly; non-disclosure is why most claims get rejected. Don’t fall for any ULIP traps.

1. Know your residency status once you return

Indian tax residency is a day count that runs from 1st April to 31st March (financial year). Which means the date you landed matters more than people expect, and it decides when Indian tax starts applying to your global income. Your residency depends on your own travel history across several years, so worth having a conversation with a cross-border tax advisor rather than a thumb rule off a forum. 

1. Plan your taxes during the year

When you're abroad, tax is deducted from your salary before you see it. In India, income like capital gains, rent, or anything from overseas reaches you untouched, so paying the tax on it becomes your job. And you don't pay it all at once at the end of the year.

It helps to think of the year as a set of dates rather than one deadline. Once you owe more than 10,000 rupees for the year, advance tax goes in four instalments: 15 June, 15 September, 15 December and 15 March. The return itself is due by 31 July for most individuals.

1. What Schedule FA (Foreign Assets) means and when it may apply to you

Once you're ROR, your Indian tax return has to disclose every foreign asset you hold: bank accounts, brokerage holdings, retirement plans, vested RSUs. Download the statements and keep them organized (this will make it easier for you when it’s time to file taxes). Also note, the department now sees your foreign accounts directly in your AIS, so don't take this lightly.

1. Credit score building

Whatever your US score was, it doesn't transfer. You start from zero on CIBIL here, which surprises people who had an 800 last month :p Amex is the only one I've heard of that recognises your US card history, and even that gets you a card, not a score. You'll need the score for cards, cashback and maybe eventually a home loan, so start early.

1. Settle in and take it slow :)

Find the people who are a year or two ahead of you on the same move. They'll tell you their school admissions also took four months, and that helps more than any checklist does. Join the R2I communities, take the club membership, say yes to things for the first six months even when you'd rather stay in. Reverse culture shock is real, so give yourself time to settle too.