How to transfer funds from NRO account to NRE account?

I have been an NRI since 2019 and reside in Saudi. I have invested around Rs 40 lakhs in various mutual fund schemes in India from my NRO account by transferring money from my existing NRE to my NRO account. Now I have decided to redeem all my investments in a mutual fund and invest the entire amount in an NRE fixed deposit as interest on an NRE account is tax-free in my hands. I wish to know the rules and process for transferring the amount from my NRO to my NRE account. 
 
Reply By: Balwant Jain, a tax and investment expert.

As per RBI guidelines, a non-resident can transfer funds from an NRO account to an NRE account up to a maximum of USD one million per financial year without any special permission from the Reserve Bank of India. Since the amount which you wish to transfer from your NRO account to your NRE account does not seem to exceed one million USD, you do not need to take any prior permission.
 
For transferring money from your NRO account to your NRE account or abroad directly, you will need to obtain a certificate from a Chartered Account certifying that the taxes payable, in respect of the money which is being transferred from your NRO account to your NRE account, have been paid. The certificate will still be needed even in cases where money is being retransferred from NRO account to NRE account as transfer to an NRE account is treated as remittance abroad for FEMA purposes.
 
The prescribed form for a certificate to be obtained from a CA is No. 15 CB. You have to make an online application for such a transfer in form No. 15CA.  You have to submit both these form to the bank where you have your NRO account. So after paying the applicable taxes on your investments in mutual funds and complying with the procedure explained earlier, you can transfer the balance money to your NRE account.  I would like to advise that instead of transferring money from your NRE to an NRO account for making investments, please invest directly from your NRE account on a repatriation basis so there is no difficulty at the time of repatriating the same to outside India.
 
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