SBI Canada is a subsidiary of State Bank of India (SBI), and gives customers access to SBI banking and financial services in Canada.
One of the popular services they offer are money transfers to India. Learn more about how you can transfer money to India with SBI Canada.
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SBI offers money transfer services for Indian citizens and residents to send money from their SBI accounts to bank accounts in Canada in Canadian dollars.
| ⚠️ SBI foreign outward remittances are only available to qualifying SBI account holders who have had a SBI banking relationship for at least 12 months. Your PAN should also be registered with the SBI account. |
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If you have an SBI account, you can start the process of your money transfer from the SBI personal banking website. Here are the steps for starting with a new international beneficiary and sending a transfer:
| ⚠️ It can take 1 working day for your international beneficiary to be registered |
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So keep that in mind when looking at the total delivery time if you are considering SBI for your global money transfers.
You can only add 1 beneficiary per day and only 7 international beneficiaries total with your SBI account. And you can only send a maximum of ₹50,000 within the first 5 days of a new international beneficiary.
You also have to provide an OTP sent to your mobile number to confirm your transaction, so keep your phone close by.
If you are sending money from India to abroad, you will need to follow the rules of the Liberalized Remittance Scheme per the Reserve Bank of India. These include:
SBI has additional regulations too:
In addition to Canada, SBI foreign outward remittances also let you send money to these foreign countries:
- United States of America
- The United Kingdom
- Australia
- New Zealand
- France
- Germany
- Japan
- Singapore
- South Africa
Next, let’s take a look at the fees and transaction time with sending money abroad from India.¹
With SBI in India, you’ll find there are two main fees on every transaction. The first is a transaction fee for the service, while the second is a hidden fee in the exchange rate you get.
The transaction fee is the equivalent of $10 USD per transaction.
The second exchange rate fee is harder to spot. To start, the exchange rate you see on Google is the mid-market exchange rate, and it is the same one used within banks because it has no markup. You get it with all Wise transactions too.
SBI actually sets their exchange rate to be weaker than the mid-market exchange rate. That way they can take a cut of every rupee you convert. But that small amount can start to add up to a large chunk of change on your transfer.
SBI’s exchange rate can take a large cut into your transaction, leaving you with less Canadian dollars to send. Simply by using Wise, you can send more money abroad than with SBI.
SBI is not clear upfront on how long transfers take. But they can be estimated between 1-2 business days, on top of the additional day for registering a beneficiary.
| 🔔 Get exchange rate alerts from Wise, send money to India at the perfect time |
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SBI Canada helps Canadian residents and citizens with ties to India with banking needs.
You can access them online or go to one of the SBI Canada branches in Toronto, Mississauga, Scarborough, Brampton in Ontario, or Vancouver and Surrey in British Columbia.
SBI Canada also has the Yono SBI Canada Bank app to make transfers easy on your phone.
Similar to SBI in India, you can not make a transfer unless you have an existing relationship with SBI.
If you are looking to get started, you can open an account online with SBI Canada.⁴
If you do have an SBI Canada account, it is fairly simple to start sending money back to India. Here are the steps to add a new beneficiary and complete a transfer:
You can send a maximum of $20,000 CAD daily or $300,000 monthly. ⁵
SBI Canada has two fees for sending money to Indian accounts- a transfer fee and an exchange rate fee. But getting hit with the transfer fee depends on how you complete your transfer.
The transfer fee is the charge from SBI for the service. If you complete the transfer at an SBI branch the fee is $10 CAD, but that lowers to $4.50 if you do it online. If you download the SBI Canada YONO app on iOS/Android, transfers to India are free.⁶
But it's never actually free, check out our table below for what this means for your wallet.
The other fee from SBI is actually hidden in the exchange rate. By giving you an exchange rate that is weaker than the one SBI uses themselves- called the mid-market exchange rate- they take a small sliver off of every conversion.
| SBI In branch transfer | SBI Online transfers | SBI YONO App transfers | Wise | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount to send to India | $1,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Transfer Fee | $10 | $4.50 | $0 | $9.46 CAD |
| Exchange rate for $1 CAD | ₹58.14⁷ | ₹58.14 | ₹58.14 | ₹58.87 |
| Total in INR | 🔴 ₹57,559 | 🔴 ₹57,878 | 🔴 ₹58,140 | 🟢 ₹58,313 |
Exchange rate as of August 25 2021.
SBI tries to make their transfers cheaper with lower rates for digital transfers, but the hidden exchange rate fee makes a difference.
Wise, which uses the real mid-market exchange rate without a cut, still beats all three options when sending Canadian dollars to India.
SBI Canada isn’t clear how long it will take to complete a transfer to India. You will only be able to find out once you have started a transaction.
| 🚀 International transfers are fast, simple, and cheap with the Wise Web/Android/ iOS app |
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Open your free Wise account now 🚀
And if you are already in Canada, check out the Wise multi currency account.
Sources used for this article:
All sources checked as of 26 August, 2021
This publication is provided for general information purposes only and is not intended to cover every aspect of the topics with which it deals. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content in this publication. The information in this publication does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its affiliates. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.
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