An NRI (Non-Resident Indian) is an Indian citizen who, in a given financial year, does not meet India's residency day-count tests under Section 6 of the income-tax law -- broadly, someone who spends 182 days or more outside India in that year, or fails the alternative 60+365-day test -- and is therefore taxed and regulated differently from a resident Indian for income tax and FEMA purposes.
NRI status is determined year by year, not permanently -- an Indian citizen can be an NRI in one
financial year and a resident in the next, purely based on how many days they actually spent in India that
specific year. It is a tax and foreign-exchange classification, not an immigration status: an NRI remains
an Indian citizen (unlike an OCI, who is a foreign citizen), and NRI status has nothing to do with holding
a visa or work permit abroad. The classification determines which bank account types an NRI can hold (NRE,
NRO, FCNR rather than an ordinary resident savings account), how Indian-source and foreign-source income is
taxed, and which FEMA rules apply to investments and property transactions.
