An NRI in Sri Lanka cannot use an apostille for a Power of Attorney used in India, because Sri Lanka is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. Instead, a POA executed in Sri Lanka must be notarized, then certified by the Consular Division of Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and finally attested by the Indian High Commission in Colombo, before it can be registered and used for a property transaction in India.
Executing a Power of Attorney from Sri Lanka -- the consular legalization route
Sri Lanka has not acceded to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention -- confirmed on the Hague
Conference's own official status table -- so a Power of Attorney executed there cannot rely on a single
apostille the way a POA from Germany, Singapore, or South Africa can. Instead, it follows a three-step
legalization chain: notarization in Sri Lanka, certification by the Consular Division of Sri Lanka's
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and finally attestation by the Indian High Commission in Colombo (or, for
those in the central highlands, the Assistant High Commission of India in Kandy). This is the same
structural pattern NRIs in Malaysia or Qatar already follow, just with Sri Lanka's own government
authority in the middle step.
Specific vs. General Power of Attorney
A Specific POA authorizes only a named act -- for example, selling one identified
property -- and is generally the safer, more readily accepted option for a one-time transaction. A
General POA grants broader, ongoing authority and should only be given to someone trusted
completely, since misuse carries higher risk.
Selling inherited property in India as an NRI in Sri Lanka
Once succession formalities are complete (see this platform's Inheritance section), an NRI selling
inherited property in India must account for TDS on the sale under the applicable provisions for NRI
sellers -- typically at a higher rate than for resident sellers unless a lower-deduction certificate is
obtained from the Assessing Officer in advance. Sale proceeds credited to an NRO account can then be
repatriated up to the USD 1 million per financial year limit described in this platform's Compliance
section, subject to Form 15CA/15CB certification -- a process that runs entirely on the Indian side and
does not depend on Sri Lanka's own exchange control rules, which govern money moving the other
direction.
