NRI account discussions - General and services at Indian Banks

bengal_tiger · Post by **bengal_tiger** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 11:13 pm

I have opened NRE/NRO accounts in other (private) banks before
and the response time/efficiency is usually impressive. Last week,
I downloaded forms for opening an NRE/NRO account from SBI's web
site. It seems like they don't have a "centralized" address which
processes NRE account applications, you are supposed to mail the
documents to a branch of your choice which does NRI business.
I looked one up and sent an email inquiry. One week, and no response.
And this concerns an inquiry that will bring them new business!
I had heard that government banks in India were mending their ways
after the entry of private banks, it doesn't seem so.

Would anyone mind sharing their customer service experiences with
banks in India that have an NRI business? Any feedback on
SBI and other Govt. banks is much appreciated. If I wanted to start
a NRI banking relationship with a Govt. bank in India, which
one would you recommend?

arukish · Post by **arukish** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:38 am

I had a NRE account with citibank for 6 years.When I transferred money through onlinesbi.com/gls ,they lost the draft and lied for about 6 months.After lots of e-mails and phone calls they located the draft after 6 months.I was so mad with citibank, I opened NRE account with State bank of india.Opening of account was easy and took only 5 days.I get reply of e-mails from my Local branch in 24 hours.
I recom. you to open an account with 0 balance and when account is open,you can remit fund....

Desi_by_Nature · Post by **Desi_by_Nature** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:54 am

I tried opening an NRE account one time with the SBI branch in Chicago. First they wanted notarized copies of god knows how many documents mailed to them. Second their customer service was terrible. Third I didn't see any particular benefit of opening an account with them.
I wonder what chance do they stand against Citibank and other MNC banks.

kallu · Post by **kallu** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 3:31 pm

Aren't govt. owned banks more secure than private banks?

This is the reason why I was also looking to open a NRE & NRO a/c with SBI. I tried calling various numbers on their site and finally got thru. to a guy in Kolkata who was helpful.

kallu · Post by **kallu** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 3:33 pm

Can someone tell me if SBI's online banking supports opening of deposits online. The guy in Kolkata said that I might need to fax instructions to my local bank but he wasn't sure if it was possible to do it thru. online banking.

punjabi · Post by **punjabi** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 4:05 pm

Govt owned banks are safer than pvt. one
I wouldn't keep large sum of money in pvt. banks

arukish · Post by **arukish** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 6:24 pm

You can open Term deposit through SBI online banking.....

h3vj · Post by **h3vj** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 2:08 pm

Hi All,

All this time I have been using ICICI money2India facility to transfer money to my savings account in India. Could please someone throw light as to why should I open NRE account?

I spoke to HSBC NRE account staff but he himself was not too sure :-)

Please help,

Harry

R2Mum56 · Post by **R2Mum56** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:06 pm

If you are an NRI, you cannot have a resident savings account. It must be converted to NRO account. You can transfer to savings account of relative (parents, siblings, etc) if you are supporting them.

However, you loose 30% TDS on interest earned in regular savings and will have to file IT return to get refund. On NRE, no tax is deducted. You can add the income to your annual income in country of residence.

h3vj · Post by **h3vj** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:33 pm

Thank you so much for the reply. I am here from past 3 years and shall continue for another year or so for a project. So does this rule of me not having savings account in India still apply? Very strange that HSBC bank employees who I chatted with for opening NRE account never mentioned to me anything of this sort. :confused:

Whenever I send money to India it is only for investment purpose so earning interest over the money sent from here is not my priority or purpose.