GOPIO to also petition India on TDS issues.
AB Wire
The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin – New York chapter organized a community meeting where many issues of NRIs’ buying, selling and owning property in India were discussed, last week.
It was jointly organized by the Indian American Kerala Center at its auditorium in Elmont, New York. The speakers were New York Attorney Anand Ahuja, who is also the President of GOPIO-New York and Pambayan Meyyan, Senior Vice President of Forest Hills Financial Group. The meeting was chaired by GOPIO Founder President Dr. Thomas Abraham.
Several issues were discussed, especially buying, selling and owning real estate property by NRIs/PIOs in India. It was pointed out that there have been growing number of scams against NRIs/PIOs hereditary, residential and commercial properties and due to these reasons, NRIs/PIOs are being greatly discouraged to invest in India
”NRIs/PIOs are at a great disadvantage to contest property issues in courts in India due to the length of the time (10-20 years) it takes, and/or due to the fact that in both civil and criminal cases NRIs/PIOs need to be present on many occasions before the court,” said Dr. Abraham.
GOPIO will take up this issue with the Government of India to have Fast Tack Courts, according to a press release.
The meeting also called upon the Government of India to enact another legislation to provide Title Insurance to ensure that ownership in real estate is protected against forged signatures on the deed and for any such fraudulent transfer of property.
It was also pointed out that NRIs and PIOs are subjected to higher TDS (tax deducted at source) than resident Indians for capital gains and while selling property.
GOPIIO meeting passed a resolution covering all these issues and plans to present it at the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be held in Los Angeles on November 15th.