SBI Eremit Singapore: All you need to know

SBI Singapore office helps Indians, Indian origin individuals, and businesses with their financial needs.

One of the features for individuals is SBI Eremit, a specific service to send money between Singapore and India.

Read on to learn more about SBI Eremit and how it works if you live in Singapore.

📝 Table of contents
Send money from India to Singapore Fees Time taken Send money from Singapore to India Fees Time taken

Sending money from India to Singapore with SBI

If you are in India, State Bank of India can help you send money to Singapore online through SBI internet banking.

But to be able to use it, you must be a resident of India and simultaneously be a SBI account holder for at least 1 year.

Plus you will be required to have a PAN number.

🔖 Read more: PAN cards for NRIs

If you qualify as a SBI account holder or opened an account a year ago, you can then move forward with the foreign transfer.

SBI calls transfers from India to abroad an “outward foreign remittance”, so an India to Singapore transfer would fall under this umbrella

Here are the steps to send money overseas from India using SBI for the first time. First, you will need to add your international beneficiary.

1. Log into the internet banking portal for SBI
2. Click on Profile
3. Click on “Manage Beneficiary”
4. Then click on “International Beneficiary” and then Add
5. Enter in your beneficiary’s information
6. Click on Submit

⚠️You may need to wait 30 mins or more for your beneficiary to be registered

Another important thing to note is that you can add only 1 beneficiary per day, and 7 international beneficiaries for a single user.

Once that is done, you can log back into your account and complete the following steps:

1. Click on the “Payments & Transfer” menu
2. Click on the “International Fund Transfer” Section
3. Click on “International Beneficiary”
4. Select your beneficiary
5. Proceed with the amount you want to transfer

You may have to provide a mobile number OTP to confirm and submit the transaction. You will receive a confirmation when your transaction has been registered.

But to send money from India abroad with SBI, you will need to follow certain rules as laid out by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and SBI itself. Your transaction needs to meet the following rules per the RBI:

• Your total outward remittance transactions must be below $125,000 USD within a calendar year
• It must fall within the designated categories allowed for outward remittances
• Gifts can not exceed $75,000 USD per calendar year

And here are the rules for SBI:

• You can send only 4 transactions a month
• The maximum per transaction can not exceed $2,000 USD or a total of $96,000 USD per year
• The max you can send a new beneficiary is** ₹50,000** in the first 5 days from registering that beneficiary

Let's take a look at what SBI charges for outward remittances from India

SBI Eremit fees and charges

SBI has two main fees: a transfer fee and a hidden exchange rate fee.

The first is a flat fee of $10 USD, or the currency equivalent, for every transaction.

For the second fee, SBI sets their own exchange rate which means that it is weaker than the mid-market exchange rate.

The mid-market exchange rate is what you usually see on Google. With a weaker exchange rate, SBI is able to take a cut out of every rupee you convert as a hidden fee.

Here is a quick look at how sending Indian Rupees to Singapore shapes out.

Below are the charges and exchange rate from SBI for moving money ₹100,000 INR to Singapore dollars (SGD), compared to Wise- which uses the real mid-market exchange rate and one low fee.

	SBI	Wise
Amount	₹100,000	₹100,000
Transfer Fee	₹750.02	₹1,844.29
Exchange rate for 1 SGD	₹55.47	₹54.61
Total in SGD	$1,789	$1,797.27

Exchange rate as of August 23, 2021. The SBI transfer fee is 10 USD for all currencies, quoted at the SBI TT sell rate for INR to USD.

Just simply by using the real exchange rate with Wise, your beneficiary can receive more Singapore Dollars per transfer.

🔔 Get exchange rate alerts from Wise, send money to India at the perfect time

Get free rate alerts 🚀

Time taken

SBI is not clear beforehand on how long a transaction will take. Normally it can range from 1- 2 business days, but you will have to confirm at the time of submitting your transaction when the expected delivery is.¹

Sending money from Singapore to India with SBI

You can send money from Singapore to India once you register with SBI Singapore.

☝️ You can only use the remittance portal once you are an SBI account holder, or registered on the eRemit portal

If you are an SBI account holder in Singapore, you are automatically registered to be able to send money to India.

But if you are not, you will have to go in person to the SBI Singapore branch to register.

Bring a copy of your NRIC or Passport, plus your employment pass and proof of residence in Singapore with you to the branch. You can also speed up the process by completing the eRemit registration online and then bringing your confirmation and documents to the SBI office.

Once you are registered, you can access the eRemit service through SBI internet banking portal. The benefits of using eRemit are:

• No need to open a separate bank account
• Available online 24/7
• 0 transfer fee on most transactions
• Payments can be done online by debit by DBS/ POSB/ UOB/ Citibank or Standard Chartered

Here is the step by step process:

1. Head online to the SBI eRemit portal
2. Sign into your account with your eRemit Username and password
3. Begin your transaction by entering your Indian beneficiary’s details, including the IFSC code and bank details
4. Enter in the amount you would like to send
5. Check all details and click on Submit
6. On the next screen you should be at the eNETS payment gateway
7. Select your relevant bank from the drop down menu options of DBS/ POSB/ UOB/ Citibank or Standard Chartered)
8. Complete the payment to finish your transaction

You should receive an online receipt with confirmation of the transaction going through.

⚠️ The maximum amount sent using SBI eRemit is S$ 20,000 per day.²

Fees and charges

SBI eRemit can seem to be an attractive option to send money from Singapore if you are registered or an existing SBI customer.

But the $0 fee doesn’t always mean that it is the best deal, especially when looking at the exchange rate.

Let’s take a look at the fees and charges for SBI eRemit Singapore when compared to Wise. ³

	SBI eRemit Singapore	Wise
Amount	$1,000	$1,000
Transfer Fee	-	S$ 5.89
Exchange rate for 1 SGD	₹54.22	₹54.64
Total in INR	₹54,220	₹54,292.03

Exchange rate as of August 23, 2021

Check how much you save with Wise 🚀

Even without a transfer fee, SBI eRemit still gives your beneficiary less rupees in India than Wise.

Wise has one low fee and a clear non-marked up exchange rate that lets you send 70 more rupees with your transaction. It's as simple as that.

Plus with Wise, your money can arrive in the India bank account within just a few hours.

Time taken

A remittance from Singapore to India with SBI eremit Singapore can be completed the same day or the next business day, depending on when the remittance is completed.⁴

Save when sending money to Singapore with Wise

While SBI can be a solid option for existing customers, it still falls short when it comes to fees, exchange rates and non-customers.

🚀 International transfers are fast, simple, and cheap with the Wise Web/Android/ iOS app

Wise is FCA regulated, and used by over 10 million people and with smart tech powering the transfers, you know you are in safe hands.

💸 Save money on your next international transfer with Wise💸

Open your free Wise account now 🚀

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Sources used for this article:

1. Outward remittance from India
2. SBI eRemit from Singapore
3. Exchange rate at SBI
4. SBI eRemit

All sources checked as of 23 August, 2021