Sending Money to India

There are multiple ways to send your money to India from UK. I have listed some of the available options..

To find the current bank exchange rate ...Oanda or XE

On-line methods: 

1. AxisRemit by AXIS Bank
2. Money2India by ICICI Bank
3. Money2anywhere by UAE Exchange
4. QuickRemit by HDFC Bank
5. OnlineRemit by SBI Bank

or through International Payments via your UK Banks called as SWIFT payments

Off-line methods:

1. Western Union 
2. UAE Exchange 
3. SWIFT transfers via any UK Banks

For Offline or online mode, you need to pay Service Transaction Taxes [STT]. For Charges, click here.

The Off-line methods are

- tiresome, need to go the counter or bank physically
- we need to pay HIGH brokerage for every transaction
- higher brokerage payout [usually £20 for SWIFT transfers or 1% of the value we send] , means less money received
+ next day deposit
+ exchange rate is good normally 0.30 to 0.50 paisa more than online-bank rates
+ good when you send huge amounts more than £ 2000

 On-line methods are

- effective bank rate
+ easy & simple
+ less charges [Rs 25 to Rs 75]
+ next day deposit
+ good when you send less than £ 2000

Best for On-line Transfer

My personal recommendation is Money2India by ICICI Bank. Why?

+ charge Rs 25/- per transaction + better exchange rate compared to Remit2India & Money2anywhere or other Online modes
NOTE: Check the rate of XE site and it will be 60 to 80 paisa less than the rate mentioned in it. Which is the best among all the existing/reviewed vendors in this post.
+ You can transfer to any bank
+ You can send Demand Draft, for whom they don't have account
+ You can opt for Remittance Card to whom you are going to send money, which is similar to Account Opening but one time process. They will get an ATM card, to withdraw cash.
+ Pay directly to your Credit Cards based in India




NOTE:1: Don't transfer on Friday rates, as FOREX don't work on weekend, any changes on Monday, will severely impact the exchange rate.

NOTE:2: Usually on-line method takes only 1 day however in some cases it takes 4 to 5 days. They reason that is delayed is not because of the Remittance Bank but because of the UK Bank to the Remittance Account Bank.

Ex:

You have UK Bank account from Lloyds TSB

You have remittance account in ICICI Bank via Money2India

You are transferring to SBI Bank in India


You initiate a transfer of xxx GBP from Lloyds TSB via a Reference Number obtained from Money2India for the same xxx GBP. Lloyds TSB bank takes 4 days to debit to ICICI UK account, even though the amount xxx GBP has been debited from your account on 2nd day.

This will be bad, if the exchanged GBP vs. INR is depleting.

In order to ensure that your money reaches on time, ensure that your UK bank transfers immediately, meaning you need to use or check bank uses Fast Processing Option. Most of the modern banks have these. This will translate to NEXT day debited in your SBI Bank.

What rates you will get?


ICICI Bank follows XE exchange rate. It will be 60 to 80 paise less than what it displays in exchange rate, which will be better compared to other vendors.


For remittance rates..


ICICI
SBI
Axis
HDFC
TimesofIndia


Best for Off-line Transfer

UAE Exchange

+ Brokerage varies based on amount send. The higher, the optimum brokerage
+ next day