Published on October 10th, 2019
Do you need to make a payment to a business or outsourced center in India?
Do you have friends or family living there? There are ways to send money there without having to put your cash at risk in the mail. Here are the 10 best ways to do so.
1. Sending A Personal Check
This is the simplest way to send money to the intended person or business in India because all you have to do is write the name on the check and send it via postal mail or courier service.
If banks or check cashers that are in your recipient’s area accept foreign personal checks, this may work.
Unfortunately, there are many banks in India that don’t accept them.
2. Sending A Cashier’s Check
Sending a cashier’s check from your bank may be a better option than a personal check since the money is deducted right away from your account and guaranteed.
Banks or check cashing places in India that may not accept personal checks may accept cashier’s checks.
But your recipient still may have trouble cashing it if they don’t have a bank account, or are not near a bank that deals in foreign exchange.
3. Sending An International Money Order
International money orders are actually safer to send in some cases than checks, and they can be converted into India’s rupee currency.
They do have a $1,000 limit though and still have to travel by snail mail. But like cashier’s checks, the money is guaranteed and you can track money orders to see whether or not they’ve been cashed.
4. Doing A Bank To Bank ACH Transfer
If the person or business you’re sending to has a bank account, and your bank has an ACH system that allows you to send money to another bank account, this might be your best option.
If your current bank has branches in India, you may not get charged with fees. But if you’re sending from your bank to a different Indian bank, there might be fees involved, albeit usually lower for a regular ACH transfer.
5. Doing A Bank To Bank Wire Transfer
A wire transfer works almost the same as an ACH transfer, except it’s much faster and costs a lot more. The good news is that nearly every bank offers wire transfers.
The bad news is that the fees associated with international wire transfers make them a bad choice unless you’re sending a large amount of money.
6. Doing A Cash To Cash Transfer
If you’re looking to send money to India without the hassle of waiting for money orders to arrive, or you don’t have a bank account, you can use a money transfer service to send cash electronically.
You simply visit the agent near you, fill out the form detailing who’ll be receiving your cash and where, and then you pay the agent who will then wire your cash to India.
It’s similar to a bank wire transfer but usually has much lower fees.
7. Doing An Online Payment To Cash Transfer
If you want to send money from your bank account, debit card or credit card to be picked up in cash, many electronic money transfer agencies allow for this as well.
All you need to do is log onto their website or app and fill out the information about who you’re sending to, make sure you send as a cash pickup and decide which payment method works best for you.
Doing this online also allows you to see other currency to rupee exchange rates.
8. Sending Through An Online Merchant Payment Processor
If you’re paying a business in India, you might be able to pay them through a merchant payment processor or portal that can convert currency.
Merchant processors don’t usually work for personal payments unless you’re paying someone through direct deposit.
But if you want a quick way to send payments that doesn’t involve wire transfers, this may be the way to do it.
9. Doing A Mobile Wallet To Bank Transfer
If you use certain mobile wallet apps, you may be able to send your own money amount to the recipient’s bank account, although you do need to be aware of any policies regarding foreign bank transfers.
You also need to make sure your recipient is comfortable sharing their bank information with you and that you take great care to protect it.
10. Doing A Mobile Wallet To Mobile Wallet Or Debit Card Transfer
If both you and your recipient have an account with a digital wallet service, you may be even better off just sending money from your account to theirs.
All you usually have to do is just enter their mobile number or email and hit send. Once they receive the funds in their mobile wallet, they can decide what they want to do with them.
The main thing to remember when you send money to India is that paper methods can mean lower fees for you or your recipient, but they also can mean slower delivery times.
Faster delivery methods will usually have higher fees but sometimes more secure and reliable systems. Personal information security should always be the number one concern when sending money.
