[OT] Best way to send money to India quickly

A

achyuth

Member
Sorry for posting an off-topic here. I would like to know the best way to send money to India so that the money can be withdrawn in 2-3 days. Using the personal checks to get the money immediately costs Rs. 300 for a withdrawal of Rs. 30000. Is wire transfer better than this. What type of exchange rates do they give on the wire transfer?

Thanks in advance.
 
give it to me, I may go to india next month. when i find time and if I dont use your money (thinking it as my money) i will give it in india
 
yudhister, I can believe you by giving you all the money to send to India, becuase you are YUDHISTER. But sorry, I need to send it in a few days from now.
 
Western Union is expensive and I am looking at ICICI's e-transfer. Can anyone tell what the difference is in their exchange rates for this type of transfer compared to the standard exchange rates?
 
Western union is good.

www.remit2india.com is also good but it takes approx 4-5 business days but the good thing is you get a DD couriered at your home.I have used this one and it really good.They give you a liter lower rate but do not charge for the transfer.


Dont go for wire transfer.Though looks simple but still takes 4-5 business days
 
frantic, ICICI is very very unreliable especially if you are sending very big amount, on the top of that they give a very bad rate. You can write a cheque of any us bank and send it to India through FedEx. In India anybody can deposit the check in any bank. No additional cost at all, you will get whaever is the prevailing rate now. But it takes like 2-3 weeks for the cheque to be cashed. I donot know whom you are sending the check. But if it is for any real estate then every body in India accepts dollar cheque, perfectly safe if it is govenment.
 
I know that the best way to transfer money is through a personal check - my dad has a bunch of them with him. But he gets the money in 2-3 weeks. He needs them immediately to pay for the flight tickets.

ICICI has an e-transfer, where they link your US checking account through ACH with your e-transfer account at ICICI. Once that link is done, you have an option of transferring the US dollars to another ICICI account (my brother has one) without any fee. What I want to know is, what are their exchange rates in this case, compared to the regualr rates?
 
Wire transfer is best option.

We routinely do wire transfer to the Indian branch so have set up a repeatitive wire transfer which can be done by tel. But you can also do one time wire transfer by walking in your bank and filling in the form. Ask your state bank or bank of baroda manager in your city's branch in India and he will give you all SWIFT/ABA code. The charge is $14 only up to $1mil.
 
Heres what my folks back home does:

They have a bunch of signed dollar checks. If my father does not need cash urgently he deposits the check and let it go for collection. It takes about 21 business days to clear and the cash to be available. If the need for cash is urgent he lets the bank 'purchase' the check. Of course, the rate will be slightly less. In this case the cash will be available immediately.

You have to understand that this is a friendly neighborhood bank. I have my Current accounts and NRE accounts there and my folks also have accounts there. I dont know if this facility is extended to my folks because of that or not. Find out if this works with your bank.
 
Get a check card in your's father name

I have given a check card to my father which is in his name .He is a joint account holder.whenever they need money They can get it from any of the VISA accepted ATMs.
 
When you are using check cards or credit cards, you need to be careful about the exchange rates (commissions) at various levels. I don't know about CitiBank, I just enquired with ICICI about their e-transfer and the exchange rate is 44.92 where as today's TT rate is 45.15 and 23 paise per dollar is their commission. They are not charging any money for this transaction. Let me find out about CitiBank. Can someone tell me what are the exchange rates on a personal check?
 
ICICI e-transfer

I am using this for past 1 year. I found this hassle free. You can transfer money in just a minute, online.

The exchange rate is very good compared to other banks and western union.

You can check the exchanges rates at the icici.com site. I know they give 20 - 30 paise less for a dollar on current exchange rate.

You can call them at find out, they have a US call center and toll free number.
 
Just got off the phone with CitiBank. Seems they have only one way of transferring funds to India which is through an account (NRE or NRO) you have with them. Their rates, 44.43 as of today, are not at all good compared to ICICI. I will find out about the personal checks tomorrow and let you know how they fare.
 
ICICI

e-transfer is best according to me and it is totally free and can be done online with few clicks. Overall their rates are much better than other exchanges.

OR

Hawala is the best option :D
 
Use Checks / wire Trasfer

I usually send post dated multiple checks via USPS international priority mail ( $5 delivered in 5 - 7 days ). The exchange rate is pretty good usually 10 cents lower than what is reported by most currency conversion sites. Takes 2 - 3 weeks from the date of check deposit in the bank in India.

For urgent money transfer wire transfer is a good option. I have seen wire transfer to citi bank bangalore finish in 24 hours. Can be done from any bank. You need swift code, bank address, account number, name of the person ( beneficiary). Swift code can be found here http://www.swift.com/biconline/
If code for your particular branch is not listed then use main branch in the same city or regional branch. Wire tranfer costs $25 - $50. Credit unions are usually cheaper. Exchange rate is same as check
 
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Re: Wire transfer is best option.

Originally posted by TheEP
We routinely do wire transfer to the Indian branch so have set up a repeatitive wire transfer which can be done by tel. But you can also do one time wire transfer by walking in your bank and filling in the form. Ask your state bank or bank of baroda manager in your city's branch in India and he will give you all SWIFT/ABA code. The charge is $14 only up to $1mil.
Click to expand...

Hell nooo. I paid $40 for 10,000 to Bank Of America. Also if you send more than 10K in one shot, it should go through the federal reserve, where the process gets slowed down significantly. Also the banks has to inform some Federal agency for amounts money transfers more than 10G's.

I use ICICI e-transfer which is faster and more reliable. The exchange rate is more than other banks offer.
later
 
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