The story of a resurgent India has created many reasons for transfer of funds to the country. Mumbai-based fashion designer Ajay Baxi, 43, felt the need when overseas clients placed orders for his work. He saw the means for doing so in a Western Union ad. "Money gets transferred instantaneously," he says. "All I need to do is fill up my name and the details of the sender in a form." Not just fashion designing, but other services such as architecture, IT support and web designing have also seen a surge in demand from international clients. The receipt from service exports alone has grown from $61,404 million (Rs 2,76,318 crore) in FY06 to $81,330 million (Rs 3,33,453 crore) in FY07. You, too, might have wondered about the fund transfer channel that suited you the most. Take a look at these channels to decide.
Private agencies. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has authorised Western Union and MoneyGram to facilitate transfer of money into the country. This is a convenient channel as it does not require either the sender or the receiver to have a bank account. Says Anil Kapur, managing director, South Asia, Western Union, "It takes a maximum of two hours to transfer money into the Indian subcontinent. You can go and collect the money after proving your identity at banks, post-offices, petrol pumps and prominent shopping centres we have tie-ups with." These agencies also allow online transactions, which make the transfer even quicker at the same or a slightly higher cost. The fees charged are roughly $30 for transferring $2,500 (see Remittance Channels).
"The limit here is that the RBI allows a person to have only 12 transactions in a year with a maximum of $2,500 per transaction or its equivalent," says Harsh Lambah, country manager, MoneyGram. "Also, all amounts over Rs 50,000 need to be paid through the banking channels." Going through these private agencies could be quite beneficial if you are receiving small amounts of money and the sender is shelling out the transfer fees.
Remit2india is the only other agency allowed to conduct international money transfer. The transfer is done only through the portal, so you will not find countrywide outlets where you can walk in anytime. Its transactions are done primarily via bank accounts and take far more time than Western Union and MoneyGram. The website's rupee-express service, available only to US customers, protects against exchange rate fluctuations by allowing transfer of a fixed rupee amount to India, regardless of the value of the currency.
Banks. If cost worries you, opt for banks. Wire/telegraphic transfer is much cheaper than sending money via agencies, but may take up to 48 hours. Manasije Mishra, head, NRI services, HSBC India, says, "This is much quicker than the traditional ways of transferring money to India, like mailing local cheques or bank drafts." The minimum charges could be Rs 700-1,000. For instance, SBI charges 0.15 per cent of the rupee equivalent of the amount or a minimum of Rs 700. Both parties should have bank accounts to enable a wire transfer, but not necessarily in the same bank.
Check out the timeframe of the transfer before you use a bank's services as some smaller banks in countries like India hold transfer money for a few weeks. The ideal way of routing funds from abroad is through a branch of an Indian bank or a foreign bank with a