MT: Forex, Money Transfer to India services, exchange rates

Desi · Post by **Desi** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:33 am

MT: Forex, Money transfer services to India.

This thread is for discussion on following topics:

Foreign Exchange rates
Money Transfer services to India
Issues, customer service, websites etc with these services.

Following are some of the banks that offer online money transfer services

State bank of India
ICICI Bank :: NRI:: Money Transfer
HDFC Bank - Quickremit - Money To India ...
Free Money Transfer to India : Funds Wire Transfer to India
Citi Transfer

http://www.x-rates.com/d/INR/USD/graph120.html
http://www.timesofmoney.com/remittan...HDFC&uiId=HDFC
https://www.onlinesbi.com/glsus/exch...teusheader.htm

http://www.timesofmoney.com/remittan...partnerId=TOML

#141 - This post shows comparison of rates received.

Members can add other providers also who provide these services and weblinks

kapajay · Post by **kapajay** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:41 pm

I returned to India last year. My bank account is in US and need to transfer some amount. When I contacted my US bank for wire transfer they said that I have to go to US embassy and get my wire transfer request notorized and then send it to them in US. After that they will call me in India for re-confirmation. It is a difficult process as Embassy is far away from my home.
What other options do I have to transfer money to India. I'm also ICIICI money2India user but they have a limit of $5000 per transaction and moreover doesn' give good rates.

Please suggest a way that money can be transferred safely without me travelling to embassy and then waiting for next 15-20 days.

Thanks,
Ajay

hetal18 · Post by **hetal18** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 6:24 pm

I am not sure about wire transfer, but I use onlinesbi.com. You can check the rates on their web site. They also have some restrictions on the amount of money you can transfer to India.

How much amount are you looking to transfer?

dbs · Post by **dbs** » Fri Aug 31, 2007 7:51 pm

Depending on the time you have, you can also try just putting a cheque into your account. You should go to your bank, tell them that you want to put in this cheque and whether it can be expedited by sending thru a courier for clearance and get a wired clearance.
I have never done it, so can not offer a personal experience.

murari · Post by **murari** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 5:55 pm

If you have friends,transfer the amount into their account electronically and ask them to wire/ACH transfer from their account in US into your account in India. The other alternative is by using money2india(ICICI) you can initiate money transfer by e-transfer(Direct Debit-ACH based). I remember one of the member from this forum initiated similar transfer from his US account after R2I.

Murari

kapajay;42375I returned to India last year. My bank account is in US and need to transfer some amount. When I contacted my US bank for wire transfer they said that I have to go to US embassy and get my wire transfer request notorized and then send it to them in US. After that they will call me in India for re-confirmation. It is a difficult process as Embassy is far away from my home.
What other options do I have to transfer money to India. I'm also ICIICI money2India user but they have a limit of $5000 per transaction and moreover doesn' give good rates.

Please suggest a way that money can be transferred safely without me travelling to embassy and then waiting for next 15-20 days.

Thanks,
Ajay[/quote]

SSVP · Post by **SSVP** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:31 pm

I stayed here for 18 months and planning to R2I soon.I do not have a NRE account yet.My questions are

1.I want to transfer the savings from US bank to Indian bank.How can one achieve that?

2.After going to Ind I can give US Check to deposit to Ind bank.The transfer may take 40 days atleast .Is there any limit for tranfer of US funds to IND?

4.Is it necessary to have a NRE account with Citi,ICICI?Can anyone explain the benefits.

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
ssvp

RRK · Post by **RRK** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:24 pm

SSVP;43392I stayed here for 18 months and planning to R2I soon.I do not have a NRE account yet.My questions are

1.I want to transfer the savings from US bank to Indian bank.How can one achieve that?

2.After going to Ind I can give US Check to deposit to Ind bank.The transfer may take 40 days atleast .Is there any limit for tranfer of US funds to IND?

4.Is it necessary to have a NRE account with Citi,ICICI?Can anyone explain the benefits.

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
ssvp[/quote]

NRE account is only for NRE, if you return to India, you are not eligible to hold NRE accounts after return.
1. Yes, you write US bank checks and deposit in Indian bank accounts.
2. You may sign up for remit2india.com money2india.com services and use them to send money to indian banks.
3. No limit for how much you can transfer to Indian bank accounts.

SSVP · Post by **SSVP** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:56 pm

RRK;43407NRE account is only for NRE, if you return to India, you are not eligible to hold NRE accounts after return.
1. Yes, you write US bank checks and deposit in Indian bank accounts.
2. You may sign up for remit2india.com money2india.com services and use them to send money to indian banks.
3. No limit for how much you can transfer to Indian bank accounts.[/quote]

Thanks for the reply RRK.

Why shoudl we hold a NRE account? Any advantages or that is it a rule?

If you see the first thread by KAPAJAY,he mentioned about going to Embassy.When does this happen and it it because his H1 expired and that is when have to go to Embassy?

I heard that from a newsgroup that one can transfer a limit of 30K per year.

Thanks
ssvp

nelly · Post by **nelly** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 10:42 am

The banks generally have a limit $5K in my case, after which the transfer has to cross several validation channels and processes. In recent days, the rules are much more stricter. The bank I've used suggested I make Demand Drafts in 4998 or 4999 and you can do many of those as you like. Luckily for me the demand drafts were free service delivered home. This was very handy for sending money home for a wedding in the family. You'll need to check or read the instructions on your banks transfer restrictions or call their customer support. Ofcourse you do all this online.

US bank use ACH to deposit to NRE account.
NRE account DD's to home.

Round about way, but it's fastest way I've found (outside of travelers checks that maybe your friend can draw in your name and you simply give him a local check)

namaste · Post by **namaste** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 11:37 pm

RRK;43407NRE account is only for NRE, if you return to India, you are not eligible to hold NRE accounts after return.
1. Yes, you write US bank checks and deposit in Indian bank accounts.
2. You may sign up for remit2india.com money2india.com services and use them to send money to indian banks.
3. No limit for how much you can transfer to Indian bank accounts.[/quote]

I want to transfer around $45k to India to buy some property. Is there any exchange rate difference between option 1 above and doing a wire transfer? I always thought that depositing a US bank check into an Indian bank account will give a better exchange rate (though takes time to clear) than doing an online remittance or wire transfer? Is this correct? A slight difference in rate can also add up a lot for the amount I want to transfer.