A Power of Attorney is a legal document by which one person gives the right to perform or powers of transacting in matters relating to property, banking, legal and judicial proceedings, tax payments, etc, to another person due to certain reasons like being out of country, or getting old, or not able to look after one’s duties in those matters etc. A power of Attorney is an authority given by a written formal instrument whereby one person termed the donor or principal authorises another person termed the donee, attorney or agent to act on his behalf.

Principal/Grantor/Donor-  The person who grants the power to the other person to act on his behalf is termed the grantor or principal or donor.

Attorney/Agent/Donee- The person to whom the power is granted is termed the Attorney or agent or donee.

Who Should Use It?

Usually Power of Attorney is created by anyone who cannot do the transactions in person by himself or herself due to various reasons. The following are the reasons that commonly force an individual to give the power of performing to another person.

• residing abroad and unable to be present for the task
• illness and bedridden
• old age or senior citizens with health problems
• or any other reason for being unable to conduct the transactions personally

General Power Of Attorney

Where the principal authorises the Attorney to do certain general acts on his behalf. The word ‘General’ here means that the power must be general regarding the subject matter and not general with regard to powers in respect of a subject matter.

Either you can give a GPA for all your properties, banking transactions, tax matters, registration, legal disputes and court matters etc. Or you can give a general power to any one category like only for all property matters or only for all Banking processes etc. This type of Power is very wide and has lot of risk if the Attorney is not a trustworthy person. 

General Power Of Attorney By NRI

Are you staying outside India and having properties or non-property transactions in India? You can not come to India every now and then to complete your transactions? Then you need to entrust someone who stays in India to do that for you on your behalf. In such situations all you need to do is to create a General Power of Attorney (GPA) deed in favour of a sincere and trustworthy person. You need not come to India to create the GPA deed. You can do it from whichever country you are living in.

You can also make a Special Power Attorney that deals with ONLY one property or transaction.

How To Make A General Power Of Attorney By NRI

If you are staying outside India and have properties or financial transactions within India, you can give the power to transact and deal with the properties or banking or tax payment etc to any trustworthy and reliable person in India. They can be your close relatives or friends. you should follow the following steps:

1. Draft the Power of Attorney deed online or we shall do it for you.
2. Get the deed attested by the Indian embassy or consulate in that country. Any Notary from there can also attest it.
3. The person making the deed, the Grantor, should sign the deed in all pages.
4. This attested deed should be sent to a known person in Indian address by registered post or courier.
5. Finally the person to whom the deed is sent should get it registered from the local Sub-Registrar office or Sub-Divisional Magistrate office in India, by paying the appropriate registration charges applicable in that State.

Do you Need a GPA or Special Power of Attorney?

If you want to make a Power of Attorney, you need to first understand whether the power to be given to the Attorney is for general purpose or for any one particular of specific purpose. If you wish to give all the rights for all your properties or all the rights for one property or all rights of banking etc. you should create general power of attorney or commonly termed as GPA.

But if you want to give the power to the Attorney to do any specific act and after the act is done the power comes to an end. This type of power of Attorney is termed as special power of Attorney. Special Power of Attorney is made only for a single task or act. 

What Should Be Included in The Power Of Attorney Deed

While making the General Power of Attorney from outside India, make sure that your deed includes these details:

• Grantor’s Details– The name, age, foreign address, Indian address and occupation of the person making the deed should be mentioned first.
• Attorney’s Details– The name, age, address, father’s name and occupation of the person in whose favour the deed has been made should be mentioned.
• Reason for the POA– You have to state why you are making this deed and for what purpose. For eg. To buy or sell or rent out your properties in India, since you are staying abroad etc.
• Date of Commencement You should clearly mention when the POA comes into force.
• Signature– The Grantor has to sign in all the pages and also in the last page.

How To Make It Legally Valid

To make the Power of Attorney created from any foreign country as legally valid, one has to complete these formalities:

1. The Deed has to be made on a plain paper and attested in the Indian Embassy or by a Notary from that country.
2. The Grantor should place his/her signature in all pages.
3. The deed should be sent by registered post to an Indian address in the name of a known person.
4. The person in India to whom the deed is sent should get the deed registered in the Sub-Registrar office in the area where property is situated or the place of residence.

Points to know while making the Power of Attorney

• The person making the deed should be mentally capable of making the deed. A mentally unsound person cannot make a Power of Attorney deed.
• The person living outside India should provide the residential address in the foreign country.
• The deed has to be sent to India to a known person who is mentally capable of getting it registered and enforced.
• Never give the powers to transact with your property to any untrustworthy person. They may misuse the powers and make things miserable for you. Since granting powers to the Attorney means that whatever the Attorney does within the scope of the powers is binding on you, you cannot undo anything that was done by the Attorney within the scope of the powers granted to him.