How is send money to Nepal from India - Practical Tips

Whenever I meet a Nepalese person in India, I frequently meet this question from them. The usual one question among every Nepalese workers in India is: How to send money to Nepal from India? 

If you compare the time of today and that of 7-8 years ago, a lot of things have changed. Now, it's much easier to send money from India to Nepal. But, in the past, it was quite difficult as per RBI Rules.

Though I said above that it's much easier now, many people in Indian banks are not aware of how to send money to Nepal from India. This is the first hurdle in money transfer from India to Nepal. So,the first issue is not many bank employees know that they can send money to Nepal. In south India, some of them are completely unaware of anything about Nepal and do not get surprised if they say to do a net banking, which is funny as net banking is allowed only between domestic Indian banks.

So, please note that if you are in India (live in India) and have access to Indian net banking of any Indian banks, that does not mean you can send money to Nepalese banks from Indian banks by internet banking. You can not transfer money from India to Nepal by NEFT or RTGS or by IMSP method from your home. You must go to branch of any Indian bank if you want to transfer money from India Nepal.

Most of the time, they (Indian Bank employees) may tell you to get the contact number of their forex/expat or foreign currency remittance department and contact there, and if you contact them, they will flatly answer you that you cannot send money to Nepal. Then, what is the way out?

This time I went to an ICICI Bank Branch in India in Hyderabad. I met Bank Manager who was not at all aware of any money transfer facility to Nepal. He ringed up two three places including his head office in Bombay and received response that they cannot transfer money to Nepal. He answered me a straight no. But, it’s great that at least he tried to find out and did his best as it was a private Bank. (Ok, to be honest, this was my view many years ago but my view has changed now. Recently, I was in one ICICI Bank but they flatly refused to provide me services in relation to money transfer to Nepal. I will be writing more on it in my subsequent blog.) 

If you are in a same situation before Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Bank or Nationalized Government Bank, or a bank which says that it is an undertaking of Government of India, it may likely happen that you will be ignored, or just get answer No and no further help barring few exceptions in some bank branch because of some cooperating employees. (Again, this view has changed. I have seen that many government banks or Indian PSUs have become more professional in recent days. More on it on my another blogpost.)

Most of the Bank Employees including Bank Branch Head, who is called Manager, will not be aware of anything what the blogger has discussed in his page. It’s because there is not much transactions happening or India is too large to care about Poor Nepalese, or ignorance is just a bliss! So that they can take little nap post lunch rather than processing few thousands rupees of poor Nepalese fellow!

Still, if you try there is a way if there is a will. The blog aptly describes the first method on which I will not be dwelling much. Rest of the two methods that I have employed will be discussed below:

1. I am not sure if this process still works or not but I have reason to believe that The State Bank of India (‘SBI’) still has this process in Place. First of all, go to any big branch (only big branch dear!) of SBI in your city like in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh India, you can go to Koti/Abids Branch of SBI. There will be foreign remittance department. Deposit there INR 10,000/- or less amount than that and service fee of 50/INR way back in 2006-07. They will issue a cheque drawn in favour of the recipient’s name and addressed to SBI Bank Nepal Limited (which is a Joint Venture of State Bank of India in Nepal. I forgot the details as I had done this transaction way back in 2006-07 but I believe it was not account payee that means the recipient need not have any account with SBI Bank Nepal Limited. Sender can send that cheque through courier (will be risky if it is not account payee) or through some person, or if you are going to Nepal but do not want to carry cash then, carry with yourself. Present the cheque in any branch of SBI Bank Nepal Limited (this is also little doubtful as I forgot if there was any specific bank branch was written or not) and show your identity proof as a recipient (in case it is not account payee) and collect cash. If the cheque is account payee, deposit in the recipient’s account and withdraw money in Nepal by drawing cheque. The service charge is already paid in India. So, the recipient will get full amount of INR 10,000 which is equivalent to NR 16,000. The exchange rate was fixed before I was born and still is the same. Caveat: I forgot most of the details and exact way but I am sure that you get a general idea from above post. For more, contact biggest branch of SBI in your city. Needless to say here that do not go to small branch, they have no damn clue about this, believe me!

(Note: This way of sending money to Nepal was most probably invented before smartphones were born. In this age of internet, I am not sure if SBI still has this practice. Once my friend asked me to take her Cheque from India and give to her father in Nepal, I had done this and I know about it. But, these days, I am not sure if this practice is still followed. - Chief Editor)

2. Second way and which is the best way, and sorry for making you wait about best way but patience pays guys!

In India, there are many PSU and one of them is Punjab National Bank (PNB) which has a joint venture (JV) in Nepal called Everest Bank Limited (EBL). EBL has a current account with PNB New Delhi and the Account Number is 2254002100011923. (It's not necessary for you to know this Account Number but if you know, it may be easier for you to transfer money to Nepal from India.)

You can deposit your money in Indian Currency from any PNB Branch in India (Yes, any! small branch, large branch does not matter but it is likely that they may not be aware with this. Just you have to do is to do give enough respect to bank employees, and explain them in polite words, make them aware of this facility) and direct EBL from there itself to credit this amount to your relatives or whoever recipient’s account maintained in EBL Nepal any branch. So, the recipient of money in Nepal should have bank account with EBL in Nepal or you must provide someone’s bank account in EBL in Nepal whom you can trust as money will be first credited to bank account and only then, the recipient will get/withdraw money. PNB itself has customized software that all the details will be entered at the time you deposit money in PNB Branch. So, there is no different direction required from your side to EBL. 

For example, if you have to send 20000 INR to Nepal, you deposit the amount in Account No. 2254002100011923 and then, say, your dad’s account in Nepal is 01100111100111, New Baneshwor Branch, Kathmandu, Nepal and Account Holder’s Name is Mr. ABC XYZ (Some fictitious account number or may be of someone’s also by coincidence, do not try to remit to this number, you may lose the money), then, instruct from the branch where you deposit amount that the money should be credited to your dad’s account number in Nepal. The Bank employees feed data/instructions and the money should reach there within 4-5 days maximum.

Note of Caution:

1. I have done transactions through PNB and EBL route three times, twice the amount was around 600USD and I could send without any hassle. The money reached the destination within few days. The last time, on my third transaction, since the money was big amount (how big! I will not tell you), it took almost 12 days to reach the amount to Nepal. I was little horrified this time but nevertheless, money reached safely. About service fee, I am not aware as I had instructed the bank to deduct from deposit itself as I did not have any extra amount in my pocket. So, they deducted some fees and remitted the amount to my destination.

2. About the limit, how much you can send, I am not sure/no idea but from my practical experience, I can safely say that USD 10.000 is within the allowed limit.

3. Most Importantly, before you remit amount, consult with the bank in Nepal as well as in India and make sure that you write the bank account numbers correctly in deposit slip and get verified from bank employees that they have correctly filled in their software from where they feed data. In case, you lose your money because of one or multiple reasons, I SHALL bear no responsibility nor I will be there to express my sympathy! Please verify the account details from PNB in Delhi and EBL in Nepal.

Now, you can send money easily from India to Nepal.

If you have any more questions on how to send money from India to Nepal, you can ask here. I will try to answer you as soon as possible.

THE SECOND PART OF THIS ARTICLE WHICH IS MORE UP-TO-DATE CAN BE READ HERE:

http://nepalesestories.blogspot.com/2017/08/how-is-send-money-to-nepal-from-india_9.html