Transfer of funds to India through bank?

sevenonine

I want to transfer small amounts, £300 to start, to a bank in India for use by a cousin whose father, my first cousin, has dementia.

As I bank with, Santander, such a transfer would obviously be more secure for me. I checked its website which only shows a fee of £25 for Euros/USDs, so I'd have to ask about Indian rupees.

MSE's info on this issue is quite comprehensive, as to other ways and thru an Indian Bk in the UK.

However, I am hoping someone who has transferred IRupees using a UK bank, or even by another means, can give me first-hand advice.

colsten

I don't have first hand experience of transferring money to India but there's a chance your best bet would be a specialist currency transfer firm such as Transferwise.

However, the good rates of currency transfer firms depend on them being able to trade in the currency in question, and the Indian Central Bank now restricts trading in INR. This might mean you would get the same, or even a better, rate & service through a bank.

You could have a look State Bank of India or ICICI who might give you better rates/service than a bank that doesn't regularly deal with India.

Please post your conclusions, for the benefit of others who might have the same question.

[Deleted User]

If you can't find suitable bank or institution, consider doing transfer via Bitcoin. How do to it is as follows, in 5 simple steps:

1. Find a Bitcoin wallet for your device:
https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet
Get it installed for yourself and your cousin, create accounts and write down all passwords and recovery phrases
2. Open up Coinbase account for yourself, get verified as the UK tax resident. Send GBP there, and purchase Bitcoin using Coinbase Pro platform. Send BTC to your personal wallet created earlier
3. Ask your cousin to open up account on one of crypto exchanges in India, get him verified there as India tax resident, I searched there is few places to do that:
https://medium.com/@akshayraje/how-do-i-buy-sell-bitcoins-ethereum-tokens-in-india-cd766908cfb5
Scroll down to "Prominent Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency exchanges in India"
4. Transfer small amount of Bitcoins to your cousin's personal wallet
5. Now your cousin owns Bitcoins, he can send them to his exchange account and get them sold for INR.

You can repeat the process as many times as you want. You are using Coinbase (well funded US institution) and Indian cryptocurrency exchange (choose wisely), there is no other middleman and no other unnecessary risks.
This is simple way and you might get best return for your money, as there is no excessive banking fees involved.

colsten

OP, don't touch Bitcoin.

agrinnall

pioruns wrote: »

If you can't find suitable bank or institution, consider doing transfer via Bitcoin.

Step 1 in the "how to get your accounts frozen for suspicion of money laundering" guide for dummies.

sevenonine

colsten wrote: »

OP, don't touch Bitcoin.

and agrinnall The very mention of bitcoin made me freeze so I quite agree: this is a no-no for me. I didn't know that money laundering was a consequence of dealing in it -I've never even contemplated looking at it.

Thanks for reminding me about IR not being able to trade in IR. I agree an Indian bank here would probably be the way to go. Will get back once I've made enquiries.

jonesMUFCforever

A bank will be able to send a payment to India for you but will take a long time to reach its destination - 10 days or more in some cases.
The bank will send the payment in pounds and it will be converted over there if they are unable to send in rupees direct.

londoninvestor

sevenonine wrote: »

Thanks for reminding me about IR not being able to trade in IR. I agree an Indian bank here would probably be the way to go. Will get back once I've made enquiries.

Transferwise can do it - though right now their own comparison tool shows Western Union and ICICI as being a bit cheaper:
https://transferwise.com/gb/send-money/send-money-to-india

Generally the Indian government will want to prevent speculative trading in INR, but has no real interest in stopping people remitting to Indian residents from abroad, and converting hard currency into INR to do so. (Quite the contrary!)

18cc

I have no knowledge of whether it would suit you or not but have you tried looking at SBI UK I used to have an account with them it was easy to open and I think it is or at least was easy to transfer money to India

colsten

18cc wrote: »

I have no knowledge of whether it would suit you or not but have you tried looking at SBI UK I used to have an account with them it was easy to open and I think it is or at least was easy to transfer money to India

SBI = State Bank of India, which I suggested earlier might be an option.

td_007

ICICI's Money2India sevice: https://www.icicibank.com/nri-banking/money_transfer/uk/transfer-via-m2i.page?#benefits works well.