If you need to send money to friends or family in India, you’ll find plenty of companies offering lower transfer costs and faster delivery speeds than most banks do. And the competition among these nonbank providers is strong.
Some drop upfront fees for transfers over $1,000, as long as you use a bank account. Bank transfers of any amount tend to take several days to deliver, so a few providers offer transfers using credit or debit cards that arrive in a matter of minutes, usually for higher fees. Foreign exchange rates and user-friendly options for sending money are additional ways companies distinguish themselves, especially newer online-only services.
Out of 15 providers that NerdWallet analyzed, the following six combine low costs, reasonable delivery speeds and additional features to help you make the most of sending money to India.
| Cheapest | |
|---|---|
| Western Union
(See more details) |
Traditional provider that offers some fee-free transfers involving bank accounts. |
| TransferWise
(See more details) |
Web-only provider with excellent exchange rates. |
| Remitly
(See more details) |
Web-only provider with promotional rate and fee-free transfers when money is directly withdrawn from a bank account. |
| Fastest | |
|---|---|
| Xoom
(See more details) |
Web-only provider with same-day delivery in most cases regardless of payment option. |
| MoneyGram
(See more details) |
Traditional provider with a competitive combination of same-day delivery and low costs. |
| Best Delivery Option | |
|---|---|
| Money2India
(See more details) |
Bank service for Indian nationals that has low fees and unique options for delivery. |
For more details, click on one of the providers above or read on.
Western Union
Western Union goes further than other providers by offering fee-free online and mobile transfers of any amount to India when you select a bank account as your delivery option. You can use your bank account to fund the transfer and get delivery in several business days.Alternatively, you can fund the transfer with a credit or debit card and have delivery within one to two business days. The company makes its profit for these transfers off of the exchange rates it uses, though the rates are still better than what most banks charge.
If you want to send money in person or by phone or with cash delivery, you’ll have to pay a fee between $1 and $50, depending on the sending amount and transfer option. Western Union’s physical network spans India with over 113,000 locations for picking up cash.
TransferWise
The United Kingdom-based provider has a unique approach to transfer costs. TransferWise doesn’t mark up its exchange rate for a profit like other providers do, meaning you get more Indian rupees per U.S. dollar.This strategy helps explain why its fee structure differs as well. You pay $2.70 for U.S.-to-India transfers of $300 or less, and 0.9% of the transfer amount for sending more than that.
TransferWise lets you move money to India via its website and mobile app. The process is streamlined and uses bank accounts both to send and receive money, with delivery taking several business days.
Remitly
This online and mobile provider makes transfers of any amount for free if you have the money drawn directly from your bank. If you fund a transfer with a credit or debit card, though, you pay a fee between $5 and $30, depending on how much you send. The exchange rate is competitive, even apart from the promotional rate given to new customers.Remitly works with nearly 150 banks in India to deliver money into bank accounts. Delivery speeds for transfers with a debit or credit card range from a few minutes to four banking hours, depending on the receiving Indian bank. Transfers using a bank account usually take three to four business days.
Xoom
Xoom, a PayPal-owned company, prioritizes delivery speed while offering low fees. Delivery times for its online and mobile transfers typically range from a few minutes to a few hours regardless of whether funds come from a bank account, debit card or credit card.Xoom’s transfers with a bank account have fees between $3 and $5, or no fees if you send more than $1,000. Its fees for using a debit or credit card are more expensive, ranging between $5 and $20. Its exchange rates are not the best among the providers in this list.
The company partners with over 120 banks in India to deliver money straight to accounts there, but you can also send money as reloads on mobile prepaid phones.
MoneyGram
Compared with other traditional providers, MoneyGram has a competitive combination of low costs and same-day delivery for multiple funding and delivery options. Its online and mobile transfers using bank accounts take a few hours to deliver, but your transfers can arrive in minutes if you fund them with a credit or debit card.Bank transfers are cheaper, with amounts above $1,000 going fee-free. MoneyGram’s foreign exchange rates are in line with other providers. You can have money sent to a bank account or have it picked up as cash through its extensive network of over 53,000 locations in India.
Money2India (ICICI Bank)
ICICI Bank, the largest private sector bank in India, gives Indian nationals living abroad a wealth of options with its Money2India service, including unique delivery choices. Transfers require a U.S. bank account, and the money gets sent either to an Indian bank account or to one of two bank cards that ICICI Bank supports.With the bank card option, the recipient receives the money without having to go to a pickup location. The service is available even for those who don’t have an ICICI Bank account.
The cost is low, with a $2 fee for sending up to $1,000 and no fee above that amount, but Money2India’s foreign exchange rate tends to convert fewer Indian rupees per U.S. dollar than some other nonbank transfer providers. Estimated delivery speed for regular transfers is five business days. However, select customers who meet the bank’s criteria, including frequency of transfers, can use an express e-transfer service that takes only one to two hours for delivery.
Other options
If you’re transferring to people within the U.S. or to other countries besides India, consider other ways to send money.
Spencer Tierney is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: spencer@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @SpencerNerd.
METHODOLOGY
To determine the best money transfer services, we compared 15 providers by fees, delivery speeds, ease of use and security. We excluded services that don’t work in the U.S.
Money transfer providers surveyed: ExpressSend by Wells Fargo, Indus Fast Remit by Induslnd Bank, LuckyMoney, MoneyGram, Money2India by ICICI Bank, Remit2India, Remitlite, Remitly, Ria, Transfast, TransferWise, USForex, Western Union, WorldRemit and Xoom.
In choosing the ones for our list, priority went to the providers with a combination of the lowest fees, best foreign exchange rates, fastest delivery, greatest ease of use and tightest security.
Providers’ foreign exchange rates of one U.S. dollar to Indian rupees were compared on April 27, 2016, at 2 p.m. PDT.
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