Personal Finance Money transfer

HDFC international money transfer: Your full guide

Aman Saxena

30.09.22 (updated more than 1 year ago)

Read time 6 minutes

HDFC bank facilitates transfers of funds from India, and to India from different countries in the world. Find out how you can get the best out of your international money transfers with HDFC.

It is best to always check the exchange rate offered on transfers, as banks like HDFC tend to add a convenience fee to the exchange rate which may make your money transfers more expensive.

Check out Wise Web/Android/ iOS app for low-cost transfers directly to a bank account in India.

Learn more about Wise 🚀

Table of Contents
Receive money from abroad Charges to receive money in India Time it takes Send money abroad from India How to transfer money abroad Charges to send money from India Time it takes True cost of international transfers with HDFC A fast, transparent, and cost-effective alternative

Receive money from abroad with HDFC bank

You can receive funds with HDFC from most regions of the world. Some of these methods require you to hold an HDFC account in India, but it's also possible to receive money in non-HDFC accounts as well.

With HDFC bank, you can use the following methods to receive money from abroad. The charges and fees for transfers depend on the mode of transfer, explained in further sections below.

SWIFT/ telegraphic transfers
HDFC Quickremit
HDFC IndiaLink
Third party fund services
Demand drafts/ Cheques

You can choose the mode of transfer depending on your specific requirements, region from where the transfer is made, frequency of transfers, and proximity to an HDFC branch.

HDFC SWIFT/ Wire/ Telegraphic Transfer

SWIFT or wire transfer allows you to receive funds in your HDFC bank account from local banks outside of India. Wire transfers also allows you to open an INR/ foreign currency fixed deposit in India.⁵

To transfer funds through a wire transfer, complete and submit a remittance form to a local bank outside India. The form should contain the following details:

HDFC Bank Nostro Account Number
HDFC Bank SWIFT or IFSC Code
Beneficiary account number with HDFC bank in India
Deposit instructions (for example, opening a new rupee NRE account, or booking a new FCNR deposit for 1 year in USD)

HDFC Quickremit

HDFC Quickremit services are available for sending money from Australia and Singapore (South East Asia)¹ to India ².

With HDFC Quickremit you can:

Transfer money in INR to both HDFC and non-HDFC bank accounts in India
Minimum amount sent is AUD 250/ SGD 250
Maximum amount sent in a single transaction is AUD 10,000/ SGD 30,000¹.
Make online donations to charitable trusts and organisations in India
Track the status of your transfer online or via email

HDFC IndiaLink

HDFC IndiaLink can be used to receive money in India from Africa and Middle-East (UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and more)³ ⁴.

Instant credit to HDFC or any bank other bank account within 2 hours subject to the NEFT/ RTGS cutoffs
You and the sender both will receive an SMS about the transaction as soon as it your funds are transferred

Third party fund transfer with HDFC

You can also send money through international money transfer providers with HDFC bank. In the USA, HDFC has partnership with four such companies⁶:

Xoom
Wells Fargo
Remitly
Transfast

These providers are simple and convenient to use, but like banks, these can also have high fees and exchange rates. To make sure you are getting the best deal, always compare with the transparent provider comparison with Wise.

The true cost of sending USD to INR

Xoom

To transfer funds instantly from US to an Indian HDFC account, you can use Xoom services through their website. Once you have registered yourself on the website, click on HDFC logo on their website for a quick access to transfer money to India through Xoom.

Wells Fargo

If you have a Wells Fargo account in the USA, you can use their service ‘Express Send’ to send money to an HDFC account in India easily. The transfer is possible only to the bank account and not as a cash transaction.

Remitly

You can create a Remitly account by signing up on their website. You have to provide only your email address to set up the account. To transfer funds, you have to provide beneficiary account details. You can also transfer funds using a debit card.

Transfast

Transfast was acquired by Mastercard in July 2019, and soon after closed their remittance service. As of the moment, no further information is available on their public website.

HDFC international transfer charges to receive money in India

Transfer type	Fees (charged to sender)
Quickremit Australia¹	AUD 250 – 999: SGD 5 AUD 1000 and above: Zero service fee
Quickremit (South East Asia) ²	SGD 250 – 999: SGD 4 SGD 1000 and above: Zero service fee
IndiaLink (Africa and Middle East) ⁷	Correspondent bank charges applicable
Wire Transfer⁸	Upto USD 500 or equivalent- ₹500 flat Above USD 500 or equivalent- ₹1000 flat
Xoom⁹	For USD-INR Bank account: $0 PayPal balance: $0 Debit card: $30.49 Credit card: $30.49 + possible bank charges
Wells Fargo ¹⁰	$0
Remitly¹¹	Less than $1000: $3.99 More than $1000: $0

⚠️ These charges don't include the high foreign exchange rates used by HDFC or its partner services, which adds to the overall cost of your transfer. There may be a significant difference in the rates provided by HDFC than the rates found on Google.

To avoid such losses, you can use Wise which always provides transfers at the real mid-market rate, which is the rate you see when you Google the exchange rate at any time.

Get started with Wise 💸

Time it takes to receive money in India with HDFC

Transfer type	Time Taken
Quickremit (Australia) ¹	HDFC bank account: 1 working day Non HDFC bank account: 2 working days Fixed rupee transfers: 24 working hours Demand Drafts: 8-10 days
Quickremit (South East Asia) ²	48 hours
IndiaLink³ ⁴	Instant credit: 2 hours (subject to NEFT/RTGS cut-offs) Demand Draft: 3 working days
Wire Transfer ⁷	Within 24 hours after sighting the credit in Nostro Account
Xoom⁹	Instant deposits for select banks 4 hours for all other banks
Wells Fargo ¹³	3-5 business days
Remitly¹¹	Express: 4 banking hours Economy: 3-5 business days

Send money abroad from India with HDFC

If you have an HDFC bank account, you can send money abroad through their netbanking option called RemitNow¹⁴

Send money to 19 currencies

UAE Dirham (AED), Australian Dollar (AUD), Canadian Dollar (CAD), Omani Riyal (OMR), Swiss Franc (CHF), Danish Krone (DKK), Euro (EUR), Singapore Dollar (SGD), Pound Sterling (GBP), Hong Kong Dollar (HKD), JPY (Japanese Yen), South African Rand (ZAR), Korean Won (KRW), Norwegian Kroner (NOK), New Zealand Dollar (NZD), Saudi Riyal (SAR), USD (US Dollar), Swedish Krona (SEK), Thai Baht (THB)

Maximum limit per transaction is USD 5000, and up to two transactions allowed per day.
Maximum money transferred in one financial year is USD 250,000 (subject to Liberal Remittance Scheme from RBI)

How to transfer money from India to USA with HDFC bank

To transfer funds using RemitNow to send money to any country, first register for HDFC netbanking. Once registered, follow the below process to initiate a transfer:¹⁵

How to register for third party payment with HDFC

Login to HDFC NetBanking and go to ‘Funds Transfer’ tab
Register for third party payment
Select ‘Transfer within the Bank’ option
Fill in the required details and click ‘Confirm’

How to add international beneficiary with HDFC

Under ‘Request’ tab select ‘Add a beneficiary’
Fill in the international beneficiary details and click ‘Confirm’
You will receive a One Time Password (OTP) on your registered mobile number. Use the OTP to authenticate the beneficiary
After successful authentication, beneficiary will be added within 30 minutes

How to remit funds abroad with HDFC

Login to HDFC netbanking and go to ‘Funds Transfer’ tab
Once beneficiary is added, click on ‘Foreign Outward Remittance’
Fill in the transfer details and confirm to initiate your money transfer.

HDFC international transfer charges to send money from India

The fees and charges for HDFC RemitNow are as below¹⁶:

Fund transfers up to USD 500 or equivalent: ₹500 per transaction
Above USD 500 or equivalent: ₹1000 per transaction

Goods and services tax (GST) is also applicable on all transactions as described below:

On amount of commission: 18% of the amount of commission/ fee/ charge
On amount of foreign currency exchanged, as per the table below

Amount of Currency Exchanged (ACE)	GST rates	Minimum GST	Maximum GST
Upto ₹ 1 lakh	0.18% of ACE	₹45	₹180
₹ 1 lakh - ₹ 10 lakh	₹180 + 0.09% of ACE	₹180	₹990
Above ₹ 10 lakh	₹990 + 0.018% of ACE	₹990	₹10,800

⚠️ These charges don't take into account the hidden fees inside the high exchange rates used. Always check the mid-market exchange rate on Google or Wise to check the real cost of your transaction.

Time it takes to send money from India with HDFC

Transfers arrive on the same day for requests submitted before 2:30 PM, and the next day for requests submitted after 2:30 PM¹⁴. Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays are non-working days for foreign exchange transactions.

The true cost of international transfers with HDFC

Banks like HDFC are not always transparent about their exchange rates. They don't include the extra cost of high foreign exchange rates when mentioning fees and charges.

HDFC releases a list of foreign exchange rates everyday, and you’ll notice that there is a significant difference in the mid-market rate as compared to the published HDFC rate.To explain how much this can cost you, let us consider an example.

As of 30 September, 2022 the real mid-market rate of USD to INR is 1 USD = 81,47 INR¹⁷. The published rate of HDFC for USD inward remittance is 1 USD = 80.07¹⁸. If you were to transfer USD 1000 to an Indian account, without considering any additional fee, you would be paying an extra ₹1,400 on currency conversion alone.

	USD 1	USD 1000
Real mid-market rate	₹81,47	₹81,470
HDFC rate	₹80.07	₹80,070
Difference	₹1.4	₹1,400 Try Wise 🚀

This higher exchange rate is used by almost all the banks and many popular money service providers in order to profit from the exchange rate conversion. Until the money is received in the beneficiary account, you will not be sure about the exact amount of money that will be received.

A fast, transparent, and cost-effective alternative: Wise

Wise Web/Android/ iOS app uses the real mid-market rate for international money transfers and charges a small, fixed fee.

There is no such thing as free transfers, but what you won’t see are unfair exchange rates. We are always transparent with our customers, so at any point, you can always compare Wise to other providers and banks and decide what is best for you.

Get started with Wise 💸

Sources used in this article:

*All sources checked on 30 September, 2022.

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.