Send Money To India – Comparison Of The Best Providers

Send Money to India – Cheapest International Transfers

On this page you will find the cheapest providers for a foreign bank transfer to India. A foreign transfer is different from the SEPA transfer, which is known from the banks for transfers in the European Union or within the SEPA area (which means EUR currency transfers through participating countries / banks).

For these transfers the sending bank only needs the IBAN and BIC number of the remitter as well as of the receiver in order to accomplish a bank transfers. The SEPA procedure is the bank transfer standard for all countries within the European Union. SWIFT transfer also works, but is more expensive. SEPA was invented to make EUR money transfers within the EU more efficient in order to support European economy across borders.

However, for the rest of the world there is no standard as SEPA yet. Usually, expensive SWIFT transfers have to be made to countries that do not belong to the EU, such as India. Those traditional cross-border bank transfers cost quite a lot.

However, in the last couple of years a range of new banking services have come up targeting exactly this problem – that international money transfers by traditional banks are ridiculously expensive. So now there are companies providing global money sending solutions for just a tiny portion of the cost of normal banks.

As a testing platform for exactly those services we’ve compiled the best solutions to send money to India at a glance. We have compared the best FinTech companies for cross-border transfers with each other, so you will particularly find the most favourable money sending services for a cross-border transfer to India. You can be sure that those services are the best out there and you will hardly find a cheaper or more reliable one.

So how does it work to send Money to India?

In order to send money to India, you have to make a foreign bank transfer. You can either do this through your own bank or decide to transfer money abroad through a money transfer provider. The latter works comfortably through the internet and only takes some mouse clicks.

How much does a foreign Bank Transfer in India cost ?

If you would like to transfer money to India, you can decide for specialized providers, whose costs in contrast to the transfer with a bank are much lower. Normal banks would charge a significantly higher fee for the foreign transfer to India than the money transfer providers do. This is a big difference between the banks and the money transfer providers (FinTechs).

With the latter a foreign transfer to India costs a tiny percentage of the amount you send. Some of the money transfer providers even offer the first money transfer to India free of charge, as a welcome offer that should motivate you to use their service next time again. A comparison can turn out to be very worthwhile and should be done before, so that one chooses the provider that turns out to be particularly cheap.

What do normal Bank Transfers through traditional Banks cost?

Usually there is a fixed minimum fee if you want to make an international SWIFT transfer. From a certain amount you will even pay a predefined percentage plus an extra SWIFT fee and third-party charges (round about €25) and usually banks will even give you a rediculously bad exchange rate if you’re sending money that has to be exchanged into another currency. For example, this can be something like 13€ for a 250€ transfer, which is super expensive. For higher amounts you can easily end up paying round about €50, which includes a certain percentage of the amount you send. Usually this is something between 0.15% to 0.3% plus the named fixed fees on top. It depends on your bank how much it will cost for the specific amount and destination, but you won’t be happy with their charges for sure.

Transfer cost of a normal Bank at a glance:

• Minimum fixed fee
• High percentage of transfer amount
• Fixed SWIFT fee
• Third-party charges
• High hidden in-house exchange rate

Cost of a Money Transfer to India by specialized Providers

In the case of an international transfer by a money transfer provider (FinTech), fees between 3 and 5 euros can be determined, which are charged for this transfer. If you take the bank to carry out the international transfer, the costs increase, as intermediary banks also charge a fee, which must be included in the total amount. This can mean that the international transfer is not cheap, but on the contrary can even cost up to 30 EUR more.

So you should consider that there are favorable specialized providers for foreign transfers. Those don’t charge hidden fees, no fixed cost and they will use the actual interbank exchange rate. What they will charge is just a tiny portion of the amount you send, nothing more.

Transfer cost of a specialized FinTech Company at a glance:

• Actual interbank exchange rate
• Certain percentage of transfer amount

In order to make a foreign transfer through these, one must first register with the respective provider.

This is done with your own personal data. If these are not correct, a foreign bank transfer will not be possible, as you can only transfer money from accounts whose account holder matches your own data.

Then you simply send money to the provider of your choice, who will forward the transfer to the receiver of your choice. The FinTech will process the currency exchange in the background, if needed. They will use the actual current exchange rate, no overpriced rate.

How much Money can you send to India?

The maximum amount you can send is very high with all transfer providers, but they all have their specific daily, monthly and yearly limits for each customer. It also depends if it’s a private or business transfer. Currencyfair even doesn’t seem to have a maximum transfer amount, while Transferwise can process up to 1.000.000 GBP (or equivalent) for individuals and. However, in India Businesses are not allowed to receive transfers higher than 1.500.000 Rupee per day, due to local law. This is something to consider. Minimum sending amounts are about €10, more or less, with Currencyfair it’s 8€, for instance.

How much Money makes Sense to send with a FinTech?

Money sending FinTechs are best for smaller amounts, like up to a few hundred bucks. If you would like to send many thousands to someone, a traditional bank transfer might even be cheaper again in the end, or it’s at leasts worth comparing it. Because the fintechs work with a certain percentage per transfer, such as up to 0.7% in the case of Transferwise.

So if you want to end e.g. €100.000 to someone, the Transferwise fee would be round about €700. This is an amount you should definitely compare to the amount your normal bank would charge. But in the case of smaller transfers, less than 1 percent of your sending amount is usually a better deal than the minimum transfer rate of your house bank.

Duration of a foreign Bank Transfer to India

The period for a foreign bank transfer to India can last from a few hours up to 5 days. Please note that you have to calculate working days. Weekends and holidays are not included. If the transfer period includes these, the duration of the foreign transfer is extended accordingly.

There are even providers who make it possible that the foreign transfers are already available in a few minutes. If you want to have the foreign bank transfer carried out by a bank, this period can also be extended, if other banks have to be intermediated in order to carry out the foreign bank transfer.

How long would a Transfer by a Bank take:

Banks have no binding execution deadlines. These are named in the GTC as *as soon as possible*. In practice, the duration is approx. 3 to 7 working days. If payments are processed via intermediary banks, it can also take considerably longer.

How long does Transfer by FinTechs take:

FinTech companies specialized in global money transfers are able to deliver Rupees to a receiver in India only one day after they’ve got the money from you. Holidays in the receiving or sending country can affect the delivery time, but this is also the case with traditional bank transfers. But in general you can expect your receiver to get your money within a day.

From where can you send Money to India?

It depends on the transfer provider from where you can send money. Usually those companies serve customers worldwide, like from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South America and the US. Some may not be able to serve customers from a specific country, for instance, Currencyfair cannot accept senders from the United States. However, Transferwise serves US citizens as well, so depending on where you’re from you might only be able to use specific services and not have much of a choice. Still, usually at least one of the cheap money transfer providers will be able to process your transfer.

What do you need in order to make a Transfer?

In order to use a money transfer provider you need to be able to top up your account with them / send the money to them first. This will either have to be by bank transfer to them or by credit/debit card. So usually you need to have a bank account yourself from which you start the whole operation. A virtual bank account with one of the numerous FinTechs can be sufficient as well, as those accounts are more or less real bank accounts and you might be able to use the debit card to send money from your virtual bank to the sending provider.

So you need:

• Bank account or
• credit card

How can the Recipient receive the Money?

The most usual way to get your money to the receiver is by choosing bank transfer to his or her account in India. However, depending on the transfer provider, you might also have the choice between Cash pick-up (receiver can go to a certain pickup point and get the money in cash), smartphone top up (receiver gets your money directly in his digital phone wallet if he uses this kind of banking technology) or even a home delivery might be possible. But those additional options highly depend on the FinTech, as said. The most common way of delivery is right into the local bank account of the recipient.

So these might be the general options to deliver the money to your recipient:

• To local bank account
• Cash pickup
• Phone Top Up
• Home delivery

Is a Money Transfer with a Money Transfer Provider secure?

It is highly recommended to choose a money transfer provider to carry out a foreign bank transfer. They have high security standards and can offer different conditions than the banks do. For example, it is important that a foreign bank transfer does not take place by debiting money from your own account. You know the money yourself. This can be done by a bank transfer, a deposit by credit card or an instant transfer. So there is no account access. It is just as safe that you can only transfer money from accounts whose data match your own login data with the respective provider.

Do I have to send the Money to India in Rupee or Euros?

It is not necessary to do the currency exchange yourself with a foreign bank transfer to India by a money transfer provider. The respective providers carry out the exchange according to the current exchange rate of the currently available.

What can go wrong?

What can mainly go wrong is that you don’t spell the name of the recipient correctly or make any other mistake in his or her data. When such a mistake has happened, the money cannot get delivered. Usually it will be booked back to your account. In rare cases it might be able to get lost. But you should absolutely make sure that you fill in all data correctly. If you find a mistake when the transfer is already initiated, immediately contact the provider and try to make them correct the mistake.

Can Transfers be cancelled?

Usually money sendings can be cancelled until a certain point before it would be delivered. However, you should check the terms of service of the provider of your choice, if they charge fees for transfer cancellations. This is very likely and you should consider this in advance.

Transfer Tracking

Usually you should be able to track the whole transfers in your user account at the transfer provider website or in their app, whatever access you have to your user account. There you should be able to see where the money is at the moment.

How do Transfers through FinTechs actually work?

The system behind such a money transfer FinTech is more or less the following: The company holds bank accounts in different countries. When a customer wants to “send” money somewhere, the FinTech will make a local transfer in the receiver’s country to his/her local bank from the account the FinTech has in that country. So while the FinTech has got money from you on the bank account they have in your country (sender), they will simply deduct this amount from their local account in the recipient’s country. So their overall balance stays the same, but in your country they get the “transfer” fee on top of the balance. So they're shifting amounts back and forth in their own international accounting and charge fees for that. They don’t really “send” your money.

Conclusion:

If you would like to send money to India, either way it will be an international bank transfer like SWIFT, since India cannot accept SEPA transfers by their national banks since it isn't a European country / India doesn't belong to the European Union. The foreign transfer can be carried out both by a bank and by a money transfer provider (FinTech). As you can see the specialized providers are far cheaper than the banks in this regard.