SBI Eremit Australia: All you need to know

State Bank of India, or SBI for short, offers customers to send money to and from Australia. Learn more about the SBI service of ERemit and how it works for money transfers between India and Australia.

📝 Table of contents
Sending INR with SBI Fees for INR remittances Sending AUD with SBI Fees for AUD remittances

Sending money from India to Australia with SBI Eremit

Whether you have relatives studying in Australia or family that has relocated, SBI has services to help you send money from India.

Money sent overseas from India, whether for personal use, tuition or family support- fall under the category of an outward remittance.

SBI’s outward remittance facility helps Indians send money overseas, including to Australia. Here is the list for SBI’s outward remittance destinations:

• United States of America (USA)
• United Kingdom (UK)
• Australia
• New Zealand
• France
• Germany
• Japan
• Canada
• Singapore
• Hongkong
• South Africa

⚠️ To be able to send any money using SBI services, you must first be a SBI bank account holder for at least 1 year

If you are a qualifying SBI customer, you can use the outward remittance service through your local SBI bank branch or throughthe SBI retail banking platform.

The online platform however only allows for transactions in major global currencies like USD, GBP, EUR, AUD and SGD.

To be able to access the outward remittance platforms, in person or online, you will need to be KYC compliant with your SBI account and with an updated PAN card.

Any Indian citizen sending money from India abroad will have to follow the rules of the Liberalised Remittance Scheme or LRS as laid out by the Reserve Bank of India. That means that the outward remittance must fall within these guidelines:

• The outward remittance must meet the requirement for one of the RBI’s approved purposes
• Outward remittances are capped at $250,000 USD per financial year
• Gift remittances can not exceed $75,000 USD per financial year

SBI also has restrictions on how much can be sent per transaction with the limit being the lesser of the following:

Type of transfer	Limits
SBI Branch	₹20 lakh or $25,000 USD
SBI Online banking	₹10 lakh or $25,000 USD

While there is no minimum amount for a remittance, you may be capped at the number of transactions per month you are allowed. Check with your bank branch or the online SBI banking system for more information.¹

SBI Eremit fees and charges for sending money from India

SBI charges a $10 USD equivalent in Indian Rupee fee per transaction. That is in addition to the exchange rate that the bank sets themselves.

The SBI bank exchange rate is different from the exchange rate that you usually see on Google. Google often shows the real mid market exchange rate that banks use between themselves. It is also the exchange rate that Wise uses.

SBI sets their own exchange rate which is different from the mid-market exchange rate. And in that difference they are able to sneak in a fee on each rupee that is converted.

You can check the SBI foreign exchange rate by looking at the TT Sell Rate for AUD. (Updated 6th August 2021)

Time taken to send INR with SBI

A transfer with SBI can take up to 7 business days from India once the payment has cleared.²

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Compare INR-AUD fees with Wise 🚀

Sending money from Australia to India with SBI Eremit

SBI Australia lets Australian residents convert and send money to bank accounts in India with SBI Eremit. With an office in Melbourne and Sydney, plus an online portal and app, SBI has made it pretty easy.

It's free to sign up for SBI Eremit and you can register for it completely online on the portal.

And besides sending money in Indian Rupees, you can also send money in these other global currencies from Australia:

• US Dollar
• Euros
• British Pound
• Canadian Dollar
• New Zealand Dollar

To note, the SBI Eremit service from Australia only allows for conversions from Australian Dollars to INR, USD, EUR, GBP, CAD or NZD. It doesn’t allow for conversions into Australian Dollars or between any of the other currencies.

SBI Eremit also only works for transfers between bank accounts in Australia to India. If you are looking to send money to a digital wallet or cash in India, SBI Eremit wouldn’t be an option for you.

The first step is to register on the SBI Eremit portal. You can fill out the sign up form on the right side of the screen to verify your contact information. Then you will need to give the following details:

• Your name
• Date of birth
• Address
• Occupation
• Income range
• Government issued ID details (Australian or international passport, or a drivers license)

You will receive an email for verification and confirmation and once that is complete, you should be able to get started. The sign up process typically takes about 10 minutes.

Once you are set up, you can log into your account and click on Outward Remittance. You will then be prompted for your receiver’s bank account details in India and the amount you would like to send.

There is no minimum amount you need to send or a maximum limit per SBI Australia. But you may need to ask your local bank if there is a cap on how much you can withdraw in one day.

In certain instances you may need to show proof of the origin of funds for your transaction. Acceptable sources of funds are:

• Salary or income
• Investments
• Savings
• Property sale
• Company sale
• Inheritance
• Loan
• Gift
• Other but with an official letter stating the source

You can only pay for your transfer through a bank account using Bpay or Poli. Credit cards are not accepted as a way to fund your transaction.

Now that you know how to get started with Eremit, let's see how much it may cost you to send money to India.

SBI Eremit fees and charges for sending money from Australia

There are 2 different types of fees with SBI Eremit:

1. The transaction fee
2. The exchange rate

To start, the transaction fee depends on the amount that you want to send to India. Here is a breakdown:

Amount in AUD	Fee in AUD
Up to $1,000.99	$2
$1,001 to $10,000.99	$4
$10,001 to $24,999.99	$8
$25,000.00 and above	Free

SBI ERemit also has their own exchange rate for Australian Dollar to Indian Rupee transactions. SBI Eremit’s exchange rate can give you less Indian Rupees per dollar than the mid-market exchange rate.

Using a global money transfer service that uses the mid-market exchange rate can save you money. Or gets your recipient more money in their bank account.

So what can a total transfer on SBI Eremit cost? Let’s take a look and compare it to WIse. Wise uses the mid-market exchange rate and can arrive within a few minutes to India:

	SBI Eremit	Wise
Amount to send	$1,000 AUD	$1,000 AUD
Fee	$2	$6.15
Exchange rate for $1*	₹54.50	₹54.83
Total in rupees	₹54,391	₹54,501

*Exchange rate as of August 5, 2021

With Wise, your recipient receives ₹110 more than SBI, and that too within a few minutes.

SBI Eremit also notes that recipient’s may also receive less than estimated because of a third party fee with the intermediary bank which can range from $20-$50.

So double check your final recipient amount before completing your transaction.

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Time taken to send AUD with SBI

For transfer to Indian rupee accounts from Australia, it can take 1-2 business days.³

Save when sending money to Australia with Wise

If you want easy, clear, and low cost transfers from India, look no further than Wise.

Wise tells you the transparent fees, exchange rate, and the delivery time, up front. No hidden or surprise fees here.

Wise is FCA regulated, and used by 10 million+ people around the world. With an easy to use website and award-winning Android/ iOS app, you can start sending money right from your living room.

If you reside in Australia, check out the Wise multi-currency card that lets you hold over multiple currencies in a single account. So whether you are sending, receiving, spending or swiping at your local store, Wise lets you live like a local.

Open your free Wise account now 🚀

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Sources used for this article:

1. SBI Outward Remittance
2. SBI
3. SBI Australia eRemit

All sources checked as of 6 August 2021