Chartered Accountant · ICAI M.No. 153926 · FRN 136869W
Exempt income doesn't force a filing
NRE interest is exempt, so it does not count toward your taxable income. If that is genuinely your only Indian income, there is usually no legal obligation to file a return.
When you should file anyway
It is often still sensible to file if you want to reclaim TDS deducted elsewhere (say on NRO interest you forgot about), carry forward a capital loss, or simply hold a return as proof of income for a visa or loan. Many NRIs also like the clean record.
A worked example
Example: you only hold an NRE fixed deposit — no filing needed. But if you also have a small NRO account where the bank deducted 30% TDS, filing a return lets you recover most of it. And if you sold some shares at a loss, filing on time preserves the loss for future set-off. A subtle trap: although NRE interest is exempt, the moment you have any taxable Indian income above the limit, you must still disclose the exempt NRE interest in the return — leaving it out entirely can cause mismatches with the bank’s reporting. So ‘exempt’ does not always mean ‘ignore’. Confirm your full income picture before deciding. Our NRI tax service can advise.