Every year, thousands of Indians who have made Australia their home reach a point where two questions start competing for attention: what happens to the wealth they hold in India, and how should they prepare for the years after they stop working. Ashutosh Financial Services organises regular sessions across Australian cities precisely because these questions rarely have simple answers, and because most NRIs discover the gaps in their planning only when a crisis forces the issue. The belief driving these sessions is straightforward: good financial decisions start with genuinely understanding your options, not just being told what to do.
On 6th September 2025, the firm hosted a webinar titled “Planning Ahead: Indian Inheritance and Retirement Planning,” aimed specifically at the Australian NRI community. Daxesh Kothari and CA Rajit Kothari led the discussion, unpacking two subjects that tend to get postponed indefinitely — succession of Indian assets and retirement planning from abroad — until they can no longer be avoided.
The session opened with a question that catches many NRIs off guard: when an Australian NRI passes away, do their Indian assets get distributed according to Indian law or Australian law? The answer is that Indian law governs succession for movable and immovable assets located in India, regardless of where the person lived or held citizenship. This single fact changes how NRIs need to think about their estate planning, because Australian wills and Australian legal advice generally don’t extend their reach into Indian succession matters.
From there, the discussion moved into what happens when someone dies with a will versus without one. A valid Indian will requires the person making it to be of sound mind and at least 18 years old, made voluntarily, put in writing, and signed in front of two witnesses. Importantly, the will doesn’t need to be prepared in India — it can be drawn up in Australia, ideally signed before a Notary Public along with witness declarations, and it will still hold up under Indian law.
Where things get more complex is when someone dies without a will, known as intestate succession. Under the Hindu Succession Act, property passes to what are called Class I heirs first — typically the widow, children, and mother — and only moves to a broader group of Class II heirs, such as the father, siblings, or grandparents, if no Class I heirs survive. The rules differ again for a Hindu woman who dies intestate, with her children and husband taking priority, followed by her husband’s heirs, then her own parents. The session also clarified a point many people misunderstand: naming a nominee on a bank account or investment doesn’t make that person the legal owner. A nominee is simply a custodian who holds the asset temporarily until it passes to the rightful heir under the will or succession law.
The second half of the session turned to retirement planning, framing India as an increasingly attractive base for NRIs building a retirement corpus. The reasoning rests on comparative data — India’s projected economic growth and the multi-year returns of its equity markets have outpaced many developed economies, including Australia, over recent years. For NRIs building this corpus, the presentation outlined a mix of approaches: guaranteed income or pension plans that offer fixed payouts over long tenures regardless of market movements, equity mutual funds built through systematic investment plans, portfolio management services for those with larger investable amounts, and direct access to US equities through international platforms. A newer avenue discussed was GIFT City, India’s first International Financial Service Centre, which allows NRIs to invest in Indian mutual funds through offshore-registered funds without needing an Indian bank account, demat account, or PAN — and without Indian tax filing obligations on those gains.
For NRIs holding self-managed superannuation in Australia, the session also walked through the practical steps of directing SMSF funds into Indian investments, including setting up the appropriate trust structure and routing funds through an NRE account, while stressing that Super Fund transactions should stay clearly separated from personal finances for audit purposes. On real estate specifically, the speakers noted it remains a less preferred option for NRIs building a retirement corpus, given the ongoing challenges around liquidity and remote management compared to financial assets.
Sessions like this one reflect a simple conviction: NRIs make better decisions about their Indian assets when they understand the rules governing them, not just the products available to them. As succession laws, tax treatment, and investment routes continue to evolve, Ashutosh Financial Services remains committed to bringing these conversations directly to the communities that need them, wherever in the world they happen to be.
