You can buy from abroad. The rules are workable — but the funding route, the paperwork and having someone on the ground all matter.
Buying property in Mumbai from abroad is entirely doable. It is also where small process mistakes get expensive, because you are not there to catch them.
What you can and cannot buy
NRIs and OCI cardholders can buy residential and commercial property in India without special permission. The exceptions are agricultural land, plantation property and farmhouses — those require specific approval that is rarely granted.
Funding has to route correctly
Payment must come through proper banking channels — NRE, NRO or FCNR accounts. Cash is not an option, and neither is routing money through a relative's resident account to "keep it simple". That creates a problem you will meet later, usually when you try to sell.
Home loans are available to NRIs from most Indian lenders, with repayment through the same account types.
Think about repatriation before you buy, not after
There are rules on how much you can take back out and when, and they differ depending on whether you bought with repatriable funds. Sale proceeds also attract capital gains tax, with TDS deducted at source at a rate that surprises most people.
Talk to a CA who does NRI work before you purchase. Structuring this correctly at the start is straightforward. Fixing it afterwards is not.
Power of attorney
You do not need to fly in. A properly drafted power of attorney lets someone you trust complete registration on your behalf. Two cautions: draft it narrowly, for the specific transaction, and execute it correctly — for a PoA made abroad, that usually means notarisation and, depending on the country, apostille or consular attestation, followed by adjudication in India.
A vague, wide PoA handed to the wrong person is a genuine risk. Keep it specific.
Why someone on the ground matters
Everything above is procedural and manageable. What you cannot do from another time zone is stand in the flat, notice that the "park-facing" bedroom faces a wall, or sense that a society's paperwork is not what it should be.
That is the actual job we do for NRI clients: be there, look properly, and tell you what we would tell a friend. Including when the answer is that this one is not worth it.