BookMyForex Money Transfers: Your full guide

BookMyForex started as a foreign exchange marketplace and has broadened into international money transfers too. Available to Indian residents for international transfers, BookMyForex allows you to send money from India abroad, but you will have to meet with one of the partner banks to complete your transaction. Read on to learn about how BookMyForex works and if it can be an option for you when sending money from India.

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Send money abroad with BookMyForex

With BookMyForex, you can complete international wire transfers or physical demand drafts from India. Destination countries include the US, UAE, the UK, New Zealand, Europe, Singapore, Canada and more. You can access BookMyForex through their website or download the app through Google Play store or the Apple App Store.

To send money abroad, you are required to be an Indian resident with a qualifying ID, and documents for verification, such as an Aadhaar card. To comply with India’s Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), Indian residents can send money abroad for all the following reasons:

When submitting your transaction with BookMyForex, you will need to show evidence of one of these reasons for sending the money. You can then pay for the international money transfer through the partner bank and they will provide for you a SWIFT confirmation.¹

How to open a BookMyForex account

You can sign up for a BookMyForex account by registering through the website. You will need to first have to fill out your personal details and confirm with an OTP through your mobile or email.

You can then place an order with BookMyForex, but then you will soon be contacted by the company to confirm next steps. This can mean either someone coming to your house or office to check your documents, or heading to a nearest qualified partner bank in India to complete the transaction. The qualifying bank partners are Axis bank and RBL.

The documents you will need will depend on the reason for your transfers, but can include copies of your Aadhaar, Pan Card, self-attested letter for the reason of the transfer and any other travel or business verification documents.²

BookMyForex charges and fees

BookMyForex doesn’t have a service charge for transfers. In certain circumstances and if you have a promo code, a bank to bank service charge can be waived. The bank charge is typically ₹225 +GST.

In addition to the bank charge fee, you will also face a hidden charge in the exchange rate you get with BookMyForex when you want to send money abroad. BookMyForex sets their exchange rate for transfers to be weaker than the mid-market exchange rate.

The mid-market exchange rate is the rate you see on Google, and the one the banks use themselves. By giving you an exchange rate weaker than that on your transfer, you lose out on every Indian rupee you convert.³

BookMyForex transfer limit

To send money from India abroad, you will have to comply with FEMA’s regulations for outward remittances. This goes for BookMyForex too. The limits for sending money abroad are⁴:

Time it takes with BookMyForex

Once you have made a payment and submitted the documents, it can take 24 hours for the transaction to be processed with BookMyForex. From then it can take another 24 hours for the amount to reach your recipient.⁵

BookMyForex customer support

If you’re looking for customer support you can reach out to BookMyForex by calling +91 - 9212219191 or by sending an email to hello@bookmyforex.com. You can also reach out through the website to receive a call from BookMyForex too.

Want an easy, fast and cheap way to send money to India? With Wise you can send money directly to local bank accounts in over 150 different countries and at the real mid-market exchange rate. No mark ups, hidden fees or surprises when you use Transferwise.

The true cost of international transfers with BookMyForex

To understand the BookMyForex true cost better, you will need to take a look at the exchange rate they offer. As mentioned above, BookMyForex sets their own rate which is different from the mid-market exchange rate. And by doing that, you end up having to pay more Rupees to send the same amount of money. Let’s take a look at how this works in an example.

Say you need to send 1000 GBP to a family member living in the UK. You can use BookMyForex, or a provider like Wise who uses the real mid-market exchange rate. Here is how the real exchange rate versus a set exchange rate can matter.

By using Wise and the real mid-market exchange rate, you save almost ₹ 500 on the exchange rate to get the same amount of 1000 British Pound to the UK versus BookMyForex.

Not only that, you can sign up for free and complete your transactions right from your mobile or computer with Wise.

Open your free Wise account now

A cheap, fast and transparent alternative: Wise

Transparency is important. That’s why you will always get the real mid-market exchange rate with Wise. And you’ll know your transfer fee and delivery time right upfront on any transaction. All from the comfort of your home.

Wise lets you have more of the world in your hands. So whether you have family in the UK, friends in the UK or booking a holiday in Thailand, you can send your money where it needs to go with Wise. Join the over 8 million people around the world that use Wise for their global money transfers.

All sources checked as of 3 September, 2020