NRIs are basically defined under two different statutes viz. (i) FEMA 2000 & (ii) Income Tax Act 1961

Under FEMA, 2000 Who is a Non Resident Indian (NRI) ?

A personal Resident Outside India who is a Citizen of India or a Person of Indian Origin is called a Non Resident Indian.

Person Resident Outside India:

A person who has gone out of India or who stays outside India, in either case

1. for or on taking up employment outside India, or
2. for carrying on outside India a business or vocation or 
3. for any other purpose, in such circumstances as would indicate his intention to stay outside India for an uncertain period or
4. Indian Students studying abroad.

Who is a person of Indian Origin?

A.  For the purpose of availing the facility of opening and maintenance of Bank Accounts and investments in shares/securities in India

A citizen of any country other than Bangladesh or Pakistan, if 

1. he at any time held Indian Passport or
2. he or either of his parents or any of his grandparents was a citizen of India by virtue of the Constitution of India or the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955)
3. the person is a spouse of an Indian Citizen or a person referred to in subclause (a) or (b) above

B. For investment in immovable property

An individual (not being a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh or Sri Lanka or Afghanistan or China or Iran or Nepal or Bhutan) who

1. at any time, held Indian Passport; or
2. who or either of whose father or whose grandfather was a citizen of India by virtue of the Constitution of India or the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955)