What is the difference between an NRO and and NRE account?

NRO stands for Non-Resident Ordinary account. It is used to park India based earnings in Rupees in India. An NRO account can be opened by an NRI in a single name or jointly with a resident.

NRE stands for Non-Resident External account. It is used to park the overseas earnings remitted to India and converted to Indian Rupees.

People sometimes get confused between an NRO account and an NRE account. The basic difference between the two is that an NRO account is used to park the India based earnings in Rupees whereas the NRE account is used to park the overseas earnings remitted to India.