10 Ways to Send Money to NRE account in India

One of the frequently asked questions from NRIs, who has just opened an NRE (Non Resident External) account is how to fund their NRE accounts In India? Since you cannot transfer Indian rupees from your normal savings account in India to your NRE account, this question is common to arise. The simplest way to deposit money in your NRE account is remittance or wired transfer like sending money from your overseas bank account, but that's not the only way to transfer money to your NRE account. There are many more ways you can send money to your NRE account in India and choosing the right way matters because you want the best exchange rate for your dollars and you also want safety so that your money should reach safely and preferably instantly or within few days in your account. 

In this article, I am going to show you 10 ways to transfer funds to your NRE accounts. You can use any of these methods to deposit money in your NRE account based on applicability and convenience.  Each of the methods has its own advantage and disadvantage but in terms of convenience, online money transfer to India is the best. You don't need to go anywhere, just send money from the comfort of your office and home.

Btw, If you are looking to send money abroad consider TransferWise. It’s a great tool for sending and receiving money internationally with low fees — much cheaper than using your local bank. You can also get your own local bank account details in Europe, the UK, the US, Australia, and New Zealand with the TransferWise Borderless account

And, If you are looking for alternatives, you can also check out CurrencyFair, which also have a promotion for all new customers that can be used that has 3 free transfer. I have been using this service and I must say they give better rates than many big banks. If you are sending large amount of money, you can easily get few more thousands by using CurrencyFair website by comparing their exchange rate with what your bank is offering. 

10 Ways to fund your NRE account in India

For the purpose of funding, augmenting, or replenishing your existing NRE account or depositing money on your new NRE account, you may choose any one or more of the following modes of remittances at your convenience

1. Foreign currency Cash or Travellers Cheques

You can deposit money into your NRE account during your personal visit to India. At that time, you can tender foreign currency cash and/or Traveller's cheques. 

As per Reserve Bank rules, you are permitted to carry to India without Customs declaration amounts in Cash component up to USD 5000/-(or equivalent in other foreign currencies) along with traveler's cheques with the sum total of the two aggregating USD 10,000/-. 

These limits are for each NRI visiting India. On the other hand, you may bring in any amount after declaring the same at the customs counter and obtaining a Currency Declaration Form (CDF) signed by Customs Official.

While I know about this option and many of my friends and colleagues have used this when they travel to India, I have not used it personally because its too cumbersome for me. I prefer online and comfort of my home like wired transfer or using services like CurrencyFair which we are going to look next. 

2. Swift Remittance

This is the modern mode of transferring money instantaneously across the world. You can also call it online money transfer from your overseas account to your NRE account. Few people also call it wired transfer.

For detailed information please be in touch with your banker or nearest branch of your bank for enabling SWIFT remittance. Please log on to our Bank’s website to view the SWIFT codes of our various foreign Exchange branches all over India.

While this is one of the most secure way to send money to India, the exchange rate is not that great most of the time unless you have talked to your Indian bank and secure a better rate. If you are transferring a large amount of money I would suggest you to contact your relationship manager on your HDFC, ICICI, or Kotak account and secure a better rate as even small margin can save you thousands of Rupees. 

3. Money Transfer Service - Money2India

You can also use many money transfer services both online like CurrencyFair,  TransferWise,  Money2India, HDFC Quick Remit, DBS India Remit, Times money Remit2India, Axis bank, etc or offline money transfer services such as Western union which is facilitated through more than 2 lakh agent locations well spread in over 200 countries. However, credit to NRE account is not permitted if you use the Western Union

4. Foreign Currency Demand Draft

The fourth way to deposit money to your Non Resident External account is via a demand draft drawn in foreign currency say, US Dollars, Singapore Dollars or Great Britain Pound (GBP) or Euro, preferably drawn in New York, London, Brussels, or Singapore.

5. Foreign Currency Cheques

One of the easier ways to credit funds in your NRE account is by depositing your personal cheque in foreign currency drawn on your overseas account. This is also the preferred mode to transfer seed amount or initial fund when you open an NRE account online with Indian banks like HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, YESBANK, and others. 

If you are earning money from Amazon like affiliate income then you also have option to receive your commision using USD or Euro cheques and when you receive them to your Indian address you can directly deposit them to your Indian NRE bank account. 

If you are not sure, which is the best bank to open an NRE account, check out the suggestions and discussion given here?

6. Direct deposit on foreign branches of Indian bank

You can also replenish your existing NRE account by depositing demand drafts, Mail / Electronic Transfers from any of our foreign branches drawn on our Indian branches either in Rupees or foreign currency

7. Indian currency Draft from RBI authorized Exchange houses

One of the rare ways to fund your NRE account is by depositing drafts drawn abroad in Indian Rupees by Reserve Bank of India authorized Exchange Houses. This is most popular in Middle East countries like Oman, Kuwait, UAE, etc.

8. Foreign Currency Money orders

You can also remit funds to your NRE account by sending International Money Orders in foreign currency. I know that Money orders are things of gone days but you know it still exists. However, I have hardly heard anyone using it in my circle. It's the online money transfer to India which rules nowadays.

9. Transfer from existing FCNR or NRE accounts with any bank

It's perfectly legal to transfer money from your existing FCNR  or Non-Resident External Rupee Accounts with any bank to your new NRE account. Since the source of money is always overseas funds, this is allowed and the most convenient way if you happen to have an NRE account of your own or with your wife or friends. See here for more details.

10. Rapid funds2 India

If you live or work in middle east countries like UAE and Oman then you may know about this option. It is an easy and hassle-free money transfer service to India from Bank of Baroda’s 6 branches in the UAE and 3 branches in Oman

Here is a nice slide of all 10 ways to transfer money to your NRE account from overseas or deposit amount into your NRI account:

That's all about 10 ways to transfer money to your NRE account in India. You can use any of these ways to transfer money to your NRE account from abroad. Each of them has its own advantage and disadvantages, but if you ask me the best way, well I would always nothing beats online money transfer services like Money2India, HDFC Quick Remit, Remit2India, and others. You can transfer money from the convenience of your office or home at any time.