5 Things NRIs should know before Sending Money to India from Abroad

When a young software engineer gets his first onsite opportunity, whether it's short-term or long-term, he is full of excitement. Nothing beats the excitement and adventure of going abroad, especially in America or Europe. As they settle down there are receive their first month's salary, it can be a little difficult for them to send money back home. They are new and not aware of all the options they have for sending money to India. Many of them settled on what they are colleagues are using without doing any research about other options available and whether the option their colleagues are using gives the best value for their money or not.

In this article, I am going to share with you 5 money transfer tips which you must follow while sending money from abroad to India.

Always remember, a single penny saved is a single penny earned, and don't be like many software engineers and NRIs who work hard to earn money but don't work even 5% of that to save money like saving in exchange conversion rate, transfer fees, and miscellaneous charges you may be asked to pay for remitting money to India.

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.

5 Remittance tips new NRIs and Immigrants

Here are my practical tips for every new immigrant who wants to send money to India from abroad. All these tips are quite useful and I have been using them for a long time. They will help you to get the best value for your money by getting the best exchange rate, low transfer fee, or zero transfer fee and safety and security of the transaction.

1. Better Exchange Rate

Always search for a better exchange rate because every single dollar matters. Even small fluctuations in the exchange rate can result in a big amount in INR if you transfer a large amount of money to India.

For example, currently, USD to INR is around 1 USD = 72  INR and if you are transferring 10000 USD but you get an exchange rate of 66, you would end up losing 20,000 Indian rupees which is quite a big amount to lose in India.

So, don't settle for an exchange rate before you compare rates from different online money transfer services. You can use websites like this and this to compare them quickly.

2. Transaction Fees

Many NRIs simply ignore the fees online money transfer services, banks, or credit card companies charge to them. To give you an example, when you book your flight ticket by Credit card, you pay a couple of hundred rupees extra in India but if you use net banking you can save that money.

This is the kind of thing many Indians simply ignore.

The same is true with a money transfer from abroad. They don't pay attention to how much bank or online money transfer service is charging to remit their money to their Indian bank account.

You must compare transfer fees both overseas and any conversion charges, receiving fees in India before you choose any money transfer services.

You can also check the CurrencyFair website which generally offers a much better exchange rate and also the first 3 transfer is completely free for all new customers, click here to learn more about the free transfer from overseas including the UK, USA, and Australia.

3. Transfer Limits

You must know the transfer limit or the maximum and minimum amount of money you can send from abroad to India using a particular remittance service CurrencyFair, Money2India, Remit2India, Xoom, TransferWise, Western Union, MoneyGram, or any other.

Many of these services charge different transfer fees depending upon the amount, for example, Money2India charges 2USD if you send 500 USD but waive the transfer charge for a higher amount because they earn that money in the exchange rate they give to you.

Similarly, CurrencyFair waives off transfer charges for the first three transactions.

4. Safety and Security of Money

You must choose the only safe and reliable option for sending money to India from abroad. Don't go for an unknown bank or company that is promoting a higher exchange rate only to find that the money never reaches home and the remittance service company disappeared.

I suggest you stick with money transfer services provided by known public and private sector banks and renowned local banks e.g. WellsFargo, Bank Of America, Citibank, etc. Safety is of the utmost importance for your hard-earned money.

5. Speed

If two money transfer service is giving you the same exchange rates and charging the same fees or not charging any fees at all then choose the option which can remit the money in less time.

You surely don't want to follow up multiple times with your remittance partner to inquire about the status of your remittance and why money is not reached your Indian bank account yet.

There are online money transfer services like CurrencyFiar, Money2India from ICICI bank which promises instant money transfer.

There are others who guarantee same-day remittance, so choose the one which gives you instant money transfer like DBS India Remit in Singapore credit the money in a couple of hours of your transfer during the banking work period.

6. Bank Holidays

Make sure you don't transfer money during bank holidays both in a foreign country and in India. Many times I have seen newer immigrants transfer money at the end of the business day only to find that the next day is a bank holiday and then it's the weekend and in the worst case, Monday is a bank holiday in India.

You lost control of your money for four days and the exchange rate also moved during this period. So make sure you know there is no bank holiday coming the way of your transaction and you must transfer money at the start or mid of the business day and not at the end of the business day.


These were some of the best money transfer tips I have come across for NRIs and immigrants sending money to India. Make sure you don't fall into trap of zero transfer fees but lower exchange rates. Many money transfer websites do this, they would say that they have offered, no transfer charges but when you compare their exchange rate they are lower than the best rate you can get.

Instead of losing money there, I would suggest you make the calculation by considering both the exchange rate and any transfer charges and choose the one which gives you the best value for your money.  If you have any more remittance tips to add to this list, please feel free to share.


P. S. - If you are sending a large amount of money, I suggest you check the CurrencyFair website which generally offers a much better exchange rate, and also the first 3 transfer is free for all new customers. If you want to avail of this here is the link to get the first 3 free transfer money from overseas including the UK, USA, and Australia.

P. S. S. - If you are looking to send money abroad you can also 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.