The Best Rent Collection Services for NRI Landlords: What Actually Works From Abroad

Rent collection sounds like the easy part. Money moves once a month. For an NRI it is the part that goes wrong, because the money must land in the right account, the tax must be deducted correctly by the tenant, and you need a clean record you can show a tax officer years later. This page compares the ways an NRI collects rent in India: consumer rent-payment apps, a corporate-grade payment platform, plain bank auto-credit, and full management. Every claim links to its source, and where a service does not publish something, we say so.

66 MG Road published this guide. We manage rent as part of a wider service, so we are not a rent-payment app. We name our own approach at the end and mark it as ours.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm your own position with a qualified adviser.

The one fact that changes everything: TDS under Section 195

Before comparing tools, understand the rule that no consumer rent app removes. When rent is paid to an NRI, the tenant, not the landlord, must deduct tax at source under Section 195 of the Income Tax Act. The rate is 30% plus surcharge and cess, which works out to 31.2% on the base for most cases, and it applies from the first rupee, with no small-amount threshold like the one residents get.

That obligation carries real steps for the tenant: get a TAN, deduct the tax, deposit it by the 7th of the next month, file the TDS return, issue Form 16A, and file Form 15CA online, with Form 15CB from a chartered accountant where the yearly remittance crosses Rs 5,00,000. An NRI can cut the rate by getting a lower-deduction certificate under Section 197. Most tenants do not know any of this. A payment app that just moves money does not fix it. See our Form 15CA and 15CB guide for the paperwork detail.

How to read this comparison

Three things separate rent-collection options, and the marketing hides all three:

  1. Reliability: does the rent arrive on time, in full, in the right account, every month, without you chasing from another time zone.
  2. TDS handling: does the method deal with the Section 195 deduction and the forms, or leave the whole problem to you and your tenant.
  3. Proof to the owner: what you can show later. A rent receipt, a statement, a TDS certificate, an audit trail.

NoBroker Pay

Site: https://www.nobroker.in/

NoBroker Pay lets a tenant pay rent using an existing credit card through NoBroker's gateway, so the tenant earns rewards and a credit-free period while the landlord receives a bank transfer. NoBroker's material states a service fee of 1% on rent payments plus GST, shown on the payment page before the transaction, and a 45-day interest-free period on Visa and Mastercard credit cards. It is built for the tenant's convenience and the landlord's receipt.

Reliability: transfers land in the owner's account; the tenant drives each payment. TDS handling: the app moves money; it does not deduct or file Section 195 TDS for an NRI landlord. Proof to owner: a payment record and receipt. What it does not solve: the NRI landlord's TDS compliance and the NRO routing.

RedGirraffe RentPay

Site: https://redgirraffe.com/

RedGirraffe RentPay is the closest thing to a business-grade rent-payment rail in India, built around high-value recurring payments rather than one-off convenience. Public writeups and its own material describe rent paid by credit card or net banking, automatic rent receipts, a dashboard for landlords and tenants, and an online TDS settlement module, which is rare among rent apps. Early coverage cited a card fee near 0.39% of rent, far below the 1% to 1.75% of consumer apps, though the exact current rate should be verified because RedGirraffe's own fee pages did not fully load for us at the time of writing.

Reliability: built for recurring, high-value payments; corporate lineage. TDS handling: advertises an online TDS module, which most rivals lack; confirm it fits an NRI's Section 195 case. Proof to owner: automatic receipts and a dashboard. What its pages did not confirm to us: the current exact card fee and whether the TDS module covers the NRI 31.2% rate end to end. Verify before relying on it.

Consumer rent-payment apps (CRED, Housing, and peers)

Sites: https://cred.club/ and https://housing.com/

A cluster of apps let a tenant pay rent by credit card for rewards. Public comparisons put CRED's processing fee at about 1.75% and Housing's rent-pay fee near 1.7%, with others in a 1% to 1.7% band. These are tenant-side tools. They earn the tenant points and a credit-free window; they hand the landlord a transfer. None of them deducts Section 195 TDS or produces an NRI-ready compliance trail.

Reliability: depends on the tenant paying each month. TDS handling: none for the NRI case. Proof to owner: a payment record, not a tax certificate. What they do not solve: TDS, NRO routing, or a statement you can hand an assessing officer.

Bank NRO auto-credit (standing instruction)

Site: https://www.rbi.org.in/

The plainest method: the tenant sets a standing instruction to credit rent to your NRO account each month. Under FEMA, rental income from Indian property must go into an NRO account; routing it to an NRE account is a FEMA breach that can trigger compounding. Balances in an NRO account are remittable abroad up to USD 1 million per financial year, subject to the rules and the tax paperwork.

Reliability: high, once set up; no app in the middle. TDS handling: none built in. The tenant still owes the Section 195 deduction and the forms; a bank transfer does not do that for them. Proof to owner: a bank statement, nothing more. What it does not solve: getting the tenant to deduct and file TDS, and giving you a repair-and-tenancy record beyond the rent line.

66 MG Road

Site: https://66mgroad.com/

We will hold ourselves to the same test. 66 MG Road does not sell rent collection as a standalone app. We run it as part of managing the flat. Rent is routed to the owner's NRO account, the TDS position is handled with the paperwork rather than left to a tenant who does not understand Section 195, and every month the owner gets an itemized statement: rent in, any deductions, any repair billed at actuals with receipts, each a line item. Owner approval is required for any spend above a set floor. Teams operate in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Gurgaon, with owner hubs in Singapore and Dubai. Pricing is published at /pricing.

What we do not do: guarantee rent, hold deposits at scale, or promise a rental guarantee. We do none of those, and we do not claim them. If all you want is a card-payment rail for a tenant, an app above is cheaper. If you want the rent, the tax and the record handled together so nothing lands on you at filing time, that is the product.

Comparison table

Service What it is Fee TDS handling Proof to owner
NoBroker Pay Card rent payment, tenant-side 1% + GST on rent None for NRI Section 195 Payment receipt
RedGirraffe RentPay High-value recurring rent rail Card fee cited near 0.39%; verify Online TDS module advertised; confirm for NRI Auto receipts + dashboard
CRED / Housing and peers Card rent payment for rewards About 1.7% to 1.75% None for NRI Section 195 Payment record
Bank NRO auto-credit Standing instruction to NRO Nil beyond bank charges None built in Bank statement
66 MG Road Rent run inside full management At /pricing; no rent commission Handled with paperwork Itemized monthly statement

Fees and features reflect each service's public pages and cited third-party reports as of August 2026. Two fee figures above could not be confirmed on the providers' own live pages, noted in the sections. Services change terms without notice: verify before you decide.

How to choose

Ask five questions in writing before you pick a method. Where does the rent land, and is it my NRO account or somewhere I will have to move it later? Who deducts the Section 195 TDS, and who files the forms, me, the tenant, or the service? What proof do I get each month, a receipt or a real statement? What does it cost, in fee terms, and does that fee fall on me or the tenant? If the tenant stops paying, who chases from India while I sleep in another time zone? Consumer apps answer the first and fourth questions and leave the rest. The way rent, TDS and records fit together in full management is covered in what NRI property management costs.

FAQ

What is the best rent collection service in India for an NRI? There is no single winner. For a tenant paying by card, NoBroker Pay and RedGirraffe are common, and RedGirraffe stands out for its recurring-payment focus and an online TDS module. For plain reliability, a standing instruction to your NRO account is hard to beat. None of these handles the Section 195 TDS and the records for you; a manager does.

Do I have to deduct TDS on rent as an NRI landlord? The tenant deducts it, not you. Rent paid to an NRI attracts TDS under Section 195 at 30% plus surcharge and cess, about 31.2%, from the first rupee. The tenant needs a TAN, must deposit the tax by the 7th of the next month, and files Form 15CA, with Form 15CB from a CA above Rs 5,00,000 a year. You can apply for a lower rate under Section 197.

Which account should my rent go into, NRE or NRO? NRO. Under FEMA, Indian rental income must be credited to an NRO account. Putting it into an NRE account is a FEMA breach. NRO balances can be remitted abroad up to USD 1 million per financial year, subject to the rules.

Do rent-payment apps handle my TDS? Most do not. Apps like NoBroker Pay, CRED and Housing move money and give the tenant rewards. They do not deduct Section 195 TDS or produce an NRI compliance trail. RedGirraffe advertises an online TDS module; confirm it covers the NRI rate before you rely on it.

What proof should I keep as an NRI landlord? A monthly statement showing rent received, any TDS deducted, the tenant's Form 16A, and receipts for any expense. A payment-app screenshot is not enough at filing time. Keep records you can show an assessing officer years later.

How does 66 MG Road collect rent? We route rent to the owner's NRO account, handle the TDS position with the paperwork instead of leaving it to the tenant, and send an itemized monthly statement with every rupee as a line item. No commission on rent. Repairs billed at actuals with receipts.

Want rent, TDS and records handled together, not four apps to stitch? Hand 66 MG Road one property and one contact. See pricing, or read the NRI property management comparison.

Saurabh Garg, founder, 66 MG Road

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