Best way to send money to india?

January 16, 2006 10:06 PM

Best way to send money to India?

I need to start sending some money to a friend in india on a regular basis. What electronic methods are cheap at both ends and reliable. I was told that paypal takes 36 days for a check to clear.

posted by bigmusic to Work & Money (11 answers total)

For legitimate, very fast and affordable transfers, Western Union is your absolute best bet.
225,000 locations. 195 countries. Reliable. Fast.
posted by disillusioned at 10:11 PM on January 16, 2006

I second Western Union.
posted by charmston at 10:16 PM on January 16, 2006

Don't do western union online or over the phone, they charge double their rates. Go to any store or agent. Alternatively, try Moneygram. They are slightly cheaper.
posted by ramix at 10:30 PM on January 16, 2006

I have used ICICI's Money to India service. I used the one where they directly withdraw from your bank account (called e-transfer, I think). There are other options as well in terms of how they get the money to them. It takes about 5 days, and interface is clunky, but its a free service and works quite well.
posted by rsinha at 10:43 PM on January 16, 2006

HSBC & Citibank (I think) have this thing where you open a bank account here, and your friend in India gets an ATM card, and they can withdraw the money there without any fees (apart from ATM fees, if applicable).
posted by riffola at 11:07 PM on January 16, 2006

The same is true for Citibank also.
posted by sk381 at 1:16 AM on January 17, 2006

I have never used this service, but you can send money oversees using paypal through xoom.

On the receiving end, they either send someone to deliver cash in person, or deposit it in a bank account.
posted by rajbot at 4:16 AM on January 17, 2006

My wife uses the Citibank method to send money to her parents and is happy with it. I believe this is what she uses, but read the details carefully.

If you're just sending money once or twice this may not be the right way, but if you're going to be doing it over a period of time, this is probably cheaper and easier than paying wire fees.
posted by beowulf573 at 5:51 AM on January 17, 2006

Alternatively you could check with your bank and their bank to see what the fees are. Bank to bank transfers are not typically too bad unless you have small amounts of money to send. Both ends will take their cut though. My bank charges me $40 for an international transfer and the bank in Spain I sent to took a small cut too.

If it small amounts then I don't believe there is any real good way. Transfer fees will always eat up some cash so you may want to limit that by sending one huge chunk at a time instead of lots of smaller chunks.
posted by JJ86 at 5:56 AM on January 17, 2006

I've used Moneybookers.com several times. No complaints.
posted by funkbrain at 6:13 AM on January 17, 2006

Is it not possible to open a regular account, put money in it, and send your friend in India the ATM card?

I don't know anything about India specifically but when I travel in Asia, there's always an ATM somewhere which can take money out from my normal account back home. Surely that's the cheapest way?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 3:07 PM on January 17, 2006