By Saurabh Garg, founder·11 min read·Published 2026-09-16·Updated 2026-09-19

Short answer: RBI tells lenders that the period of repayment on a housing loan to an NRI shall be at par with a resident borrower. Three lenders honour it and two do not. SBI, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank publish 30 years for an NRI, the same figure they publish for residents. HDFC Bank publishes 20 years for an NRI against 30 for a resident, and Kotak Mahindra Bank publishes 15 against 25. The age ceiling at maturity runs from 58 to 70 across the same lenders, and no RBI instruction sets one at all.

How Long Can an NRI Home Loan Run in India

RBI tells lenders that the period of repayment on a housing loan to an NRI shall be at par with a resident borrower. Three lenders honour it and two do not. SBI, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank publish 30 years for an NRI, the same figure they publish for residents. HDFC Bank publishes 20 years for an NRI against 30 for a resident, and Kotak Mahindra Bank publishes 15 against 25. The age ceiling at maturity runs from 58 to 70 across the same lenders, and no RBI instruction sets one at all.

Verified against the RBI Master Direction and each bank's own published terms on 16 September 2026.

The rule, in one sentence

FED Master Direction No. 6/2015-16 on Other Remittance Facilities, updated as on 8 September 2026, sets the conditions on a rupee housing loan to an NRI or a PIO. Paragraph 4 opens with this condition:

The quantum of loans, margin money and the period of repayment shall be at par with those applicable to housing finance provided to a person resident in India.

Read the middle term. The period of repayment is named in the same breath as the loan amount and the margin. If a bank hands you a shorter tenure because you live in Dubai rather than Pune, the position under the Master Direction is parity, and the bank is the one departing from it.

What the banks publish

Every figure below comes from the lender's own product page, read on 16 September 2026.

Lender NRI tenure Resident tenure Maximum age at maturity
State Bank of India 30 years 30 years 70
Bank of Baroda 30 years, moratorium included 30 years, moratorium included 70
ICICI Bank 30 years 30 years 65 or retirement
Axis Bank not published 30 years 65 or retirement
HDFC Bank 20 years 30 years 60 on the UK page
Kotak Mahindra Bank 15 years 25 years 58

SBI is the cleanest case for parity. Its NRI page and its regular home loan page carry the same four lines: minimum age 18, maximum age 70, loan tenure up to 30 years. The bank makes no distinction and publishes none.

HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank publish the gap in their own words. HDFC Bank's NRI page states a maximum loan tenure of 20 years. Its resident page states 30 years, or the age of retirement, whichever is lower. Kotak offers an NRI a loan period of up to 15 years and a resident a tenure of up to 25 years. Neither bank publishes a reason, and neither has to. The Master Direction binds the authorised dealer, and enforcement of it is a matter between the bank and RBI, not something you can hold up at a branch counter. What the clause gives you is a question the bank has to answer.

Axis Bank publishes an age ceiling for NRI borrowers and no maximum tenure. The eligibility block on its NRI page names 21 as the minimum age and 65 or retirement age, whichever is earlier, at the time of loan maturity. The tenure slider on the calculator embedded in the same page runs to 30 years, and a calculator control is not a published term. Ask for the number in the sanction letter.

The age ceiling costs more than the tenure cap

The tenure headline is the wrong number to worry about if you are over 40.

Take Kotak, which caps maturity at 58. A borrower of 45 gets 13 years whatever the product page says about 15. At ICICI or Axis, where the ceiling is 65 or retirement, the same borrower reaches the 20-year mark. At SBI or Bank of Baroda, where it is 70, a 45-year-old can hold the full 25 years to the age cap.

The spread from 58 to 70 across six lenders is the evidence that no regulator sets the figure. It is credit policy, and it varies by twelve years depending on which bank you walk into.

The NRI home loan eligibility calculator checks your age at maturity against the six lenders in this table and works out the loan your income and the property value allow.

Bank of Baroda counts the moratorium inside the 30

Bank of Baroda states that the maximum period of loans shall be 30 years initially, including the maximum moratorium period of 36 months. The same sentence appears on its NRI page and its resident page.

That word "including" matters on an under-construction flat. Bank of Baroda allows an 18-month moratorium for a building up to the seventh floor and six months more per floor above that, to a maximum of 36 months. Take the full three years and you are left with 27 years of instalments, not 30. The bank has not shortened your loan. It has told you where the moratorium comes from, and the answer is the repayment period.

What RBI sets, and what it leaves alone

The Master Circular on Housing Finance, RBI/2025-26/16, dated 1 April 2025, governs housing loans at scheduled commercial banks. It sets no maximum repayment period and no maximum borrower age. Section 3 regulates the loan-to-value ratio and the risk weights that go with it. That is the extent of the quantum rules. The full picture on how much you can borrow sits in our guide on NRI home loan eligibility.

One RBI instruction does cap a housing loan tenure, and it is worth knowing so you can tell when it is being quoted at you in error. The Master Circular on Housing Finance for urban co-operative banks, RBI/2025-26/17, dated 1 April 2025, says at paragraph 4.6 that housing loans may be repayable within a maximum period of 20 years, including moratorium or repayment holiday. That binds primary urban co-operative banks. It does not bind SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda or Kotak, and it says nothing about NRIs.

Prepayment carries no charge on a floating-rate loan

The Reserve Bank of India (Pre-payment Charges on Loans) Directions, 2025, RBI/2025-26/64, dated 2 July 2025, apply to all loans sanctioned or renewed on or after 1 January 2026. Paragraph 5(i):

For all loans granted for purposes other than business to individuals, with or without co-obligant(s), an RE shall not levy pre-payment charges.

Paragraph 5(iii) closes the two escapes lenders used before. The bar applies whatever the source of the money you prepay with, and there is no minimum lock-in period. Paragraph 10 stops a lender charging retrospectively for a fee it waived earlier.

The Directions say "individuals" and draw no line between resident and non-resident anywhere in the text. On this point the rule is the same for you as for a borrower in Pune. It changes the tenure question: a 20-year cap on paper costs you less when you can shorten the loan with a lump sum out of rent or a bonus at no charge. For a loan sanctioned before 1 January 2026, the older bar in circular DBR.Dir.BC.No.08/13.03.00/2019-20 dated 2 August 2019 still governs, and it says the same thing for floating-rate term loans to individuals.

If you move back to India mid-loan

Nothing in FEMA shortens the loan when your status changes. Regulation 9 of the Foreign Exchange Management (Borrowing and Lending) Regulations, 2018 says that any borrowing under the erstwhile regulations can be continued as permitted up to the due date of repayment. There is no recall, no new repayment period and no penalty written into the regulation.

What changes is the price and the paperwork, and one lender publishes what it does. HDFC Bank states that on relocation to India it reassesses repayment capacity on resident status, works out a revised repayment schedule, applies the prevailing resident rate to the outstanding balance, and issues a letter confirming the change of status. None of the other five lenders publishes anything on this. Ask before you sign, because the resident rate can be the better one.

What to settle before you sign

  1. Get the tenure in the sanction letter in months, not as a slider position.
  2. Ask whether the maximum age at maturity or the stated tenure is the binding constraint on your file. Over 40, the age is the one that binds.
  3. On an under-construction flat, ask whether the moratorium sits inside the tenure or on top of it.
  4. Ask the bank to confirm in writing that prepayment on the floating rate carries no charge, and get it in the Key Facts Statement, which paragraph 9 of the 2025 Directions requires.
  5. If the tenure offered is shorter than the bank's own resident product, ask which instruction requires it. Paragraph 4 of the Master Direction says parity.

Two lenders would not serve their terms for this page. LIC Housing Finance renders its NRI eligibility and repayment blocks through client-side script and sends no figure to a reader who is not running it. PNB Housing Finance returns HTTP 406 to an automated request. Neither number appears above, because we did not read it.

FAQ

What is the maximum tenure on an NRI home loan in India?

It depends on the lender, and the published spread is 15 to 30 years. SBI, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank publish 30 years for an NRI. HDFC Bank publishes 20. Kotak Mahindra Bank publishes 15. No RBI instruction sets a maximum for a scheduled commercial bank.

Do NRIs get a shorter home loan tenure than residents?

At some banks, yes, and it is published. HDFC Bank offers an NRI 20 years and a resident 30. Kotak offers an NRI 15 and a resident 25. At SBI and Bank of Baroda the two figures are identical at 30 years. The Master Direction requires the period of repayment to be at par with a resident borrower, so the shorter offer is the lender's policy rather than a rule.

What is the age limit on an NRI home loan?

The maximum age at loan maturity runs from 58 at Kotak to 70 at SBI and Bank of Baroda, with 65 or retirement age at ICICI Bank and Axis Bank. For a borrower over 40 this ceiling, and not the headline tenure, is what fixes the length of the loan.

Can an NRI prepay a home loan in India without a charge?

On a floating-rate loan, yes. The Pre-payment Charges Directions 2025 bar a lender from levying prepayment charges on a loan to an individual for a purpose other than business, whatever the source of funds and with no lock-in period. The Directions apply to loans sanctioned or renewed on or after 1 January 2026 and make no distinction between a resident and a non-resident borrower.

Does the tenure change if I return to India during the loan?

The regulation does not shorten it. FEMA permits a borrowing to continue up to its due date of repayment. HDFC Bank publishes that it reassesses repayment capacity on resident status and issues a revised schedule at the prevailing resident rate. Ask your lender what it does, because the resident rate is often lower than the one you are paying.

Saurabh Garg, founder, 66 MG Road

Sources

Information on this page is as on 2026-09-19. Rules, rates, deadlines and government portals change without notice, so verify against the official source before you act. This page is for information only. It is not tax or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a qualified adviser who knows your position.