This isn’t a formality you can skip. Indian law doesn’t ask you to renounce — it simply stops recognising you as a citizen the instant you take another nationality.
Section 9(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 is unambiguous: any Indian citizen who voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country ceases to be an Indian citizen automatically, at the moment of acquisition — no Indian government action triggers it, and a 2024 Supreme Court ruling (Union of India v. Pranav Srinivasan) reaffirmed there’s “no ambiguity” about this. Germany’s 2024 reform, which dropped its own renunciation requirement, changes nothing on India’s side — an Indian citizen naturalising in Germany today still automatically loses Indian citizenship the moment they do.
The Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card is the real consolation most people reach for, and it’s worth understanding precisely: it’s a lifelong, multiple-entry travel and residency status with broad economic and educational parity to NRIs — not citizenship. India’s own Ministry of External Affairs is explicit that OCI holders don’t hold political rights: no voting, no standing for most government positions. You must surrender your Indian passport before an OCI card is issued.
Indian missions abroad (confirmed for the Munich consulate specifically) require your Indian passport physically surrendered before processing an OCI application — this confirms a loss that, legally, already happened, rather than causing it.