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Should I sell my land in India or keep it?

Whether keeping land beats selling depends mostly on three numbers: how fast the land rises in price, what the money would earn abroad, and how fast the rupee falls against your currency. This calculator compares both paths after capital gains tax, upkeep and lease income, and shows the yearly land price rise at which they break even. It is a rough guide — the non-money reasons can matter just as much.

Free · No sign-up · Runs privately in your browser· Figures checked 24 September 2026

₹
= 1 crore
Keep it for
more years
%
Your own assumption for this village or town
More options (tax cost, lease, upkeep, returns abroad)
₹
= 10 lakh
%
₹
 
₹
 
%
%
Today: ₹95.8 per $ (approximate)

After 10 years, on these assumptions

Selling now leaves you $29,269 more

About ₹37.68 L at the rupee rate you’ve assumed for year 10 (₹128.7 per $).

Break-even: the land needs to rise about 8.4% a year for keeping to match selling now.

Sell now

Cash after tax today₹85,41,600
Tax on the sale₹12,58,400
Invested abroad, year 10$145,233
In rupees then₹1.87 cr

Keep 10 years, then sell

Land value then₹1.79 cr
Cash after tax then₹1.51 cr
Net income along the way-$1,133
Total, year 10$115,965

What the numbers leave out

  • Land that nobody checks can be encroached, farmed without permission or fenced by a neighbour — and a dispute can freeze a sale for years.
  • Family ties, a home to return to, or land meant for the next generation can matter more than a few percent of return.
  • Land is slow to sell. Selling in a hurry later often means a lower price than the growth rate above assumes.
  • Moving the money: NRIs can generally send up to USD 1 million a financial year out of their NRO account, with CA certificates.

A rough comparison, not financial advice. Tax uses the 12.5% long-term rate plus surcharge and 4% cess (figures last checked on 24 Sept 2026) and assumes no other Indian income; selling now and selling later are taxed the same way. Growth, returns and currency moves are your assumptions. Talk to a chartered accountant and a financial adviser before deciding.

Keeping it? Have it watched from space →

How to use it

  1. Enter a realistic price the land would sell for today and pick your currency.
  2. Choose how many more years you might keep it and the yearly price rise you expect locally.
  3. Open ‘More options’ to add the cost for tax, lease income, yearly upkeep, returns abroad and the rupee’s expected fall.
  4. Compare the two totals and the break-even growth rate, then read the caveats before deciding.

How does the keep-or-sell comparison work?

Sell now: the calculator takes today’s price, subtracts selling costs and capital gains tax (12.5% plus surcharge and 4% cess), converts the rest to your currency at today’s rate and grows it at your after-tax return abroad.

Keep: the land grows at your expected rate, is sold at the end with the same tax rules, and the rupees are converted at a rate that has fallen by your assumed amount each year. Each year’s lease income minus costs is converted and invested abroad too. Both totals are shown in your currency and in rupees at that future rate.

A worked example: ₹1 crore of land, 10 years

Assume land worth ₹1 crore today, a cost for tax of ₹10 lakh, 2% selling costs, no lease or upkeep, a rupee at ₹100 to your currency falling 3% a year, and 5% a year earned abroad after tax.

Selling now leaves ₹85.4 lakh after about ₹12.6 lakh of tax. Converted and invested, that grows to about 139,100 units of your currency in 10 years. Keeping at 6% a year makes the land worth about ₹1.79 crore; after tax that is ₹1.51 crore, but at the weaker rupee it is only about 112,200 units. On these assumptions selling wins, and the land would need to rise about 8.3% a year to break even.

Why does the rupee’s fall matter so much?

If you will eventually spend the money abroad, what counts is the land’s growth minus the rupee’s fall. Land rising 6% a year while the rupee falls 3% a year is roughly 3% a year in your currency — before upkeep, and before comparing with what the money could earn where you live.

Your own assumptions matter more than any national average. Land near a new highway or expanding town can behave very differently from remote farmland, so use a rate you can justify from local sale deeds or circle-rate changes.

What are the risks of keeping land in India unwatched?

Land nobody visits is exposed to encroachment, unauthorised farming or construction, and boundary creep by neighbours. Under the Limitation Act, a person in open, hostile possession for 12 years can claim private land, and a dispute can block a sale for years.

If you keep it, budget for someone — or something — to check on it regularly, keep the mutation and records up to date, and keep copies of the title documents abroad.

Reasons to keep land that the numbers don’t capture

Family history, a place to return to, land promised to siblings or children, or simply not wanting to decide yet are all valid reasons. The calculator only tells you the price of that choice, so you can make it with open eyes.

If you sell, NRIs can generally repatriate up to USD 1 million a financial year from an NRO account with Forms 145 and 146 (formerly 15CA and 15CB). Plan the TDS, any lower-TDS certificate and the transfer before signing. Tax figures were last checked on 24 Sept 2026; confirm your own position with a chartered accountant.

Questions people ask

There is no general answer. Selling tends to win when local land prices rise slowly, the rupee is falling, and the money can earn a decent return abroad; keeping tends to win where prices are rising fast. The non-money reasons and the cost of looking after the land also matter.

For land held over 24 months, 12.5% of the gain plus surcharge (10% above ₹50 lakh, 15% above ₹1 crore) and 4% cess. The buyer deducts TDS, often on the full price, and any excess is refunded after the NRI files an Indian return.

It depends on where you will spend the money. If your life is abroad, compare returns in your own currency — an Indian return minus the rupee’s fall — against what you can earn at home. This calculator assumes the money is invested abroad.

Generally yes. NRIs can send up to USD 1 million per financial year from their NRO account, subject to tax being paid and a CA certificate (now Form 146) and online Form 145.

Typical costs include property tax or land revenue, a caretaker or relative’s expenses, fencing and repairs, trips to India and monitoring. Add them up honestly — they reduce the return on keeping every year.

Related tools

NRI Repatriation Calculator

How many years to send your sale money abroad under the USD 1 million NRO limit.

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