My 2 cents....
Which ever bank you try with, when you put the currency for the transfer instruct the bank to transfer as CHF. In this way the exchange rates from the Indian banks will apply and you will get a far better rate.
did you check money2india.com?
I normally do it using icici money 2 india. Good service and decent exchange rates.
does money2india offer better rates than if you already credit it directly to icicbank ?
i get the xe.com rate - ~Rs 2 ... what are you guys getting ?
yes i did the usual stuff ... cost : "their" currency : "chf"
but this time with post finance..
did anyone try xe.com account by the way ?
Depends a bit who you want to transfer it to.
If you want to transfer to (trustworthy) family or friends, there is a pretty cool way:
Open an account in Germany with DKB:
Give the DKB-VISA-debit-card to whoever in India you usually transfer money to.
They can now withdraw using your card, attracting no fees whatsoever.
Drawback from a Swiss perspective: You would have to change your CHFs into EURs first, which might attract the same loss as a bank transfer to India.
Rgds, Christian
why is there such a big difference
I know this is an old post, but putting it out there.
If it is possible for you the best way to transfer is call up the bank. I used UBS phone banking and paid just 10 pips away from the market (I was looking at the price - first he offered me a bad price, but when I told him where the market is - he improved his price) - which means 58.65 when the market was 58.55-58.60. Last time I made an online transfer and I paid aroun 150 pips. ICICI charges around 175 pips.
Did not count fees into that. Above method will result in about 31 CHF Fees: they need to open your INR account for 2 months (then you can close it)- 6 CHF, plus 5 CHF, plus 20 CHF (described in other posts above). But overall the exchange rate saves proportional to the amount of tranfer.
Bottomline: if you are transfering less than about 3000 CHF, it is not worth the hassle - just use money2India. More than that, check out your phone banking - not sure if they will call the trading floor for you - but worth checking.
Worst way is to use online wire transfer (which I did the first time): You get a bad rate, plus pay all the fees...
I use Currency Fair to transfer money internationally, not to India but I'm sure they work there. ( www.currencyfair.com ) Always found them to be great, fast, cheap and reliable.
Hi,
I am wondering if anyone transferred money from UBS ebanking to state bank of India by using division of charges?
If so, how much UBS charged, I see here they charge 5 CHF, but not sure what is money at SBI deducted.
For ex: if you transfer 1000 CHF, SBI will pay you 990*66. Just wanted to know when we used UBS is that 10 or less than that.
Some of friends used post finance to transfer in which post finance took only 2 CHF and SBI took 8 CHF, in my above example its 992*66.
I want to know the details of UBS to SBI how it works.
Note: I have lost significant amount by using paid by beneficiary so dont ever do that.
I would call the bank on the other side to confirm that they don't charge or if they do, how much they are.
Sbi says they don't charge but correspondence bank charges they normally don't say.
UBS being corresponding bank for SBI, they may not charge. Unless someone confirms whoever done in the past would help us.
I did CS to ICICi, its free of cost except chf 5 CS charges.
But currency exchange rate is lower than Sbi.
Hello Indian expats , I have recently moved to CH and wanted your advice on moving money to my Indian NRI account . I currently have an account with raiffaisen bank , is it a good idea to transfer money though my Swiss bank or should I use services like icici money to India ? Thanks for your help
I am moving back to Malaysia after completing my PhD here and recently transferred some funds back using Transferwise . They give you mid-market rates for the conversion and you can specify your minimum acceptable rate (% it's allowed to dip below the rate you are seeing).
The problem with bank transfers is that they charge you a lower Buy TT rate and you can't really specify the minimum rate acceptable for you, for the conversion when the transfer takes place (usually 5-7 days later!). Transferwise charges a fee but it's definitely still cheaper than using a bank (taking into account the lower currency conversion the banks offer).
It took about 5 working days before my funds were converted (after banking in my money to their account in Switzerland), and 6 working days in the case of my bf (who also sent some money to Malaysia). The CHF has been fluctuating quite a bit recently, but I was able to set my minimum as RM4:1CHF, and in the end the conversion was 4.14! My bf's ended up converting at 4 only as the rate dropped when the market opened today But good thing is we knew it was going to be 4 minimum as that was what we set. The money has already reached my Malaysian account (took about 1 day more).
All in all, pretty happy with this way of transferring and will be using their services for transferring the rest of my account!
If you use this link https://transferwise.com/u/c6f823
you can make your first transfer (up to 3000GBP/4000CHF) for free!
Wish Currencyfair did transactions in INR. You can use Transferwise like suggested above, use the link and help ctan get some reference money too
thanks guys that really helps
I started with TransferWise and then used CurrencyFair as well.
I find myself using both depending on situations.
TransferWise is a no-brainer, just initiate the transaction and set the acceptable spread (0% to -x%) for your rates and it will be converted automatically 1-3 days later, based on the exchange rates on that day.
CurrencyFair is a bit more advanced whereby you can control exactly what rates and timing that you will want to convert at in the Marketplace. You can keep changing the rates anything based on the forex market trend.
For my case, i will use TransferWise for monthly standing orders so that i don't bother with the forex at the moment of exchange. I will deposit additional funds (e.g. bonus) into CurrencyFair to wait for a good exchange rates (at the moment) like the recent appreciation of CHF to immediately initiate the exchange.
In summary, TransferWise has no control on the timing of exchange and you can limit the lower spread of the rates while CurrencyFair has full control on timing and rates but it will require more monitoring.
I've made a few transfers with Transferwise now, and they're worth checking out. They have excellent customer service if you have any questions.
Transferwise is a very nice option: https://transferwise.com
They make the transaction at the current operating exchange rate: matching real time with sites like Bloomberg, xe.com, etc. A flat fee of 0.5% is charged. Really that’s it!! Now compare that to likes of ICICI's , UBS's and Money2India's of the world!! The other options will not only give you a much worse exchange rate but also will have some hidden charges. With Transferwise its NOTHING apart from this 0.5% charge.
I have myself transferred many a times using their service and it is v authentic. Now here it is how it works:
Go to https://transferwise.com
Specify the amount and currency you want to transfer
Provide your details
Provide recipient's details
You will get the details of bank account to transfer the fund
Transfer it
That's it; Transferwise will do the rest! Its ridiculously simple and fast.
In the meantime set the minimum threshold below which Transferwise will not convert and wait for the exchange rate to become more favourable. That means, if the existing exchange rate is 68 INR per CHF, you can set a minimum threshold of 67.5 INR and your amount will not be converted unless the exchange rate is above this threshold. If in the meantime it becomes 69, your money would be converted at 69!
What's more, you get a free transfer upto 3000 pounds with the first transfer.
The only con is slight delay in receipt of funds. It might take upto 2 days from the time you transfer the fund to Transferwise and they actually receive it and start conversion. But common, its much much better than paying exorbitant fees on worse exchange rates with other providers. (and even they take a few days to remit the amount).
So go for it. I have tried all providers and can personally found this one to be the best!!
0.5% of a large amount can be more than the flat rate charged by the banks ?