How to transfer money from UK to India

How to transfer money from UK to India:- This is one of the common query every NRI asks when they land in a new country. I hope this artcle will help people who is living/going to live in UK.

There are many ways to transfer money from UK to India.
1. Direct bank to bank.
2. Through third party provider.
3. Transfer through bank online.

1. Direct bank to bank:
In this method you will be opening an NRE account in India and one UK bank account with the same bank. These accounts will be linked each other and you can transfer money same like intra bank transfer. Money will be transferred based on the exchange rate decided by bank. Normally this exchange rate will be less than the current exchange rate which you can see over the net. Apart from this bank also will charge some amount per transaction. This amount varies from bank to bank. This is the fastest way to transfer money to India.
This can be achieved through SBI to SBI, HSBC to HSBC, ICICI to ICICI etc.

2. Through third party provider:
In this method you will be registering with any of the third party providers. There are many third party providers working in this area, like, Remit2India by Times group, Western India money transfer etc. This provider will give you one local UK account number; you will be transferring money to that account as per the instructions given by them. This transfer process will take two or three working days based on the provider. Exchange rate will be decided on the date they are transferring money to your India bank account, it is not based on the day you are initiating the money transfer. So you may lose or gain money based on the fluctuations in exchange rate. Some of the providers waive the transaction amount based on the amount of money you are transferring, for example, if you transfer money above £500 some providers won't take any transaction charge whereas if the amount is less than £500 they may charge. (This is just an example slab is different for different provider.)
If you are doing transfer first time this process will take approximately a week because provider has to do verification of your passport, address, contact number etc.

3. Transfer through bank online.
In this method, you will be registering with any of the NRI banking, no need to open account in this system. Almost all major banks provides this facility. Examples are, ICICI bank, Citi bank, HDFC bank etc. Once you register in this site by providing necessary information you will be adding your India bank account as beneficiary. In these type of money transfer money will be transferred instantly, but most of the bank take transaction charges, this transaction charges from varies bank to bank. Compared to third party provider you may get higher exchange rate if you opt this method but extra transaction charges make both option more or less same.

To conclude, all three options are good. There will be very small difference in the amount that you will be receiving. Some providers/bank takes transaction charges and give high exchange rate but others won't take any transaction charges but give bit less exchange rate. So it is all up to you to decide based on your convenience.