When does it become compulsory to change account status to NRI?

These days, especially in IT, employees are given onsite assignment with no clarity of duration. In my case, I am an employee of an Indian IT company and was sent for 3 months assignment and am now completing 7 years with the same client outside India. I don’t know if I will continue here for another 3 months/3 years or will be sent back soon. I believe many many employees work in the same situation.

So my query is that since I am not settled outside India but on a placement which keeps extending, should I change my account status in India from resident to non-resident ?

We must note that changing that status mean, impact on stocks if anyone holding. Impact on PPF account and many other savings if running in India as resident.