FUND TRANSFER THROUGH SWIFT

Normally funds can be transferred electronically through undernoted channels

 

1.                   General Transfer > Fund Transfer within the Bank

2.                  RTGS / NEFT > Fund Transfer within the country between Bank

3.                  SWIFT > Fund transfer in all over world

 

SWIFT is one of the oldest and trusted mode of fund transfer between Banks of different countries some features of SWIFT is;

i.                    Transfer takes normally 2 to 7 days

ii.                 Most legal way for international fund transfer

iii.               This is the only way through which funds can be send to any country

iv.                Transfer cost is comparatively high ( normally $15 to $75)

 

Fund transfer diagram

Remitters account > remitters Banks account in same country > remitters banks account in receiving country > remitters correspondents bank account in receiving country > receivers bank account in receiving country > receivers account in receiving country

 

How transfer takes place

Remitters Bank initiates coded financial message for receivers Bank via SWIFT and at the same time takes funds from remitters account and credit the same to Nostro account of receivers Bank, some time it may happen that the remitting Bank sends Financial message to receiving Bank but delayed actual credit of funds in nostro account which result in delay of actual fund transfer

 

What are the requirements for transfer of funds?

User needs to know the SWIFT Code of receivers Bank Branch, Receivers Account no. , Name of Receiver as mentioned in receivers Bank Books and IFSC Code of receivers Bank Branch where receivers account is being maintained

Users need to visit his Bank and instruct his Bank to initiate SWIFT Transfer by giving above details; user should also inform his bank whether funds need to be converted in currency of receiver’s country or it should be kept as foreign currency

 

For other details / queries, drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

BENEFITS OF FCNR (B) DEPOSITS

India being a high inflation high growth country is capable for offering attractive interest rates for foreign currency deposits; this deposit is called FCNR (B) fixed deposits. Some of the benefits of FCNR (B) Deposit scheme are:-

Ø     Interest income tax-free in India

Ø     Freely Repatriable

Ø     Available for 1 – 5 years

Ø     No need to monitor exchange rate fluctuations

Ø     Available in 6 currencies viz USD, GBP, EURO, CAD, AUD, JPY

&

Ø   Above all

All major Banks are offering attractive interest rates on this deposit for eg State Bank interest rates on FCNR Deposits is USD: 3.79%; Euro: 4.05%; GBP: 4.06%; CAD: 4.64%; AUD: 6.55%; JPY 3.37% p.a.

Rate of interest is sole discretion of Banks and may change at any time

If you are existing account holder of Bank then this will take only one day for Banks to prepare this at the same time on maturity banks can repatriate the same within 24 hrs

If you are not having any account with any Indian bank then you require to complete KYC formalities for preparation of the same which can be done through post itself

For other details / queries, drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

WHERE TO OPEN NRI ACCOUNTS

Now these days all major banks are working on core banking platform which provides customers a flexibility to utilities banking services from any of its branches , at the same time banks are also providing Internet Banking , ATM Card facility and Cheque books through which you can do almost 90% of your  banking transactions without even visiting your parent branch

So in nutshell it can be said that Branch or Place is not that much important for opening of NRI accounts and you must open your bank account where you can reach directly to Relationship Executive or Branch Head through phone or mail

A simple way to check this, just visit to your desired bank’s website, search branch and drop a mail now if you receive reply of your mail within 24-36 hours in which the replier has given his mobile no or Land Line no. then you can move further for opening of account

But if you receive system generated reply along with a toll free no for help then be careful and think twice before opening of account

For other details / queries, drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

NOMINATION IN NRE / FCNR ACCOUNTS

Before coming to the main topic , I would like to share that in most of the banks you require to make nomination in each and every account separately ( say you are having 1 savings bank & 5 Fixed deposits , then you have to do nomination sepertely for all the 6 accounts ) and secondly ask official communication from the bank about nomination and keep the same in record

Now the importance of the nomination,

After doing nomination you are making a legal agent of your assets with the bank to whom bank will transfer your asset after you without going into any legal process if you fail to do the nominations then your heirs will have to go through the legal process for getting your assets from the bank

One more important thing is that only one nominee can be accepted if you are appointing more than one nominee in a single account then your nomination may be rejected by the bank

For other details / queries , drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

BANK ACCOUNTS FOR NRI

Basically NRI’s can open 2 types of bank accounts in India

 

1. NRE Accounts where you can keep your overseas earnings in Indian rupees. this account can be opened as regular running account ( as SB / CA ) or in Fixed deposit
2. FCN Account where you can keep your overseas earnings in Foreign Currency but this account can be opened in fixed deposit form only

Do not open NRO accounts until you are having any income in India

Funds can be freely repatriable from NRE & FCN accounts and also these accounts are totally tax free in India

 

For other details / queries , drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

DISCLAIMER

This is my personal blog and being a NRI Banker I have started this blog for giving NRI Banking tips in simple words so before initiating any action , I strongly recommend that contact your present banker in India or your financial adviser

 

For official assistance please drop a mail at my mail ID ; prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

SPL NRI BRANCH LUCKNOW DETAILS

Recently State Bank of India have opened an specialized Branch only for NRI’s , details are as under

 

Branch Name     :               Specialised NRI Branch, Lucknow  (Branch Code - 15194)

Address               :               16, Vidhan Sabha Marg, Lucknow-226001

Contact                :               Tel: +91 522 4917333 / Fax: +91 522 2618815 / Mobile: +91 8400081010 / E-mail: sbi.15194@sbi.co.in

Others                  :               SWIFT code: SBININBB763 / IFSC: SBIN0015194 / www.onlinesbi.com/nri

For other details / queries , drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

IMPORTANCE OF DTAA FORM

If you are having any NRO account (SB or FD) then you need to submit DTAA Form to your bank to avoid higher TDS Rate on interest earnings

 

TDS rates will be decided on the basis of three situations

 

1.         DTAA Form and PAN both not submitted then TDS Rate will be 30%

2.         DTAA Form submitted but PAN not given then TDS Rate will be 20%

3.         DTAA Form and PAN both submitted then TDS Rate will be country wise (rate available with bankers)

 

Remember to attach Tax Residency Certificate with DTAA Form and these forms required to be submitted every year

For other details / queries , drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

US STATES & SBI EXPRESS REMIT

The United State of America areas where SBI Express remit works are as under

Alaska, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Washington (state), West Virginia, and Wyoming

For other details / queries , drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

SBI EXPRESS REMIT

For transferring Funds from US to India online, customers can use SBI Rapid Remittance Services; SBI rapid remittance is to be done with following 2 step process.
STEP 1: Register yourself at our online fund transfer website https://remit.onlinesbi.com/glsus/ (Commonly known as SBI Exress) and Initiate a remittance request in our said site and generate a transaction ref. no. (Which has been done by you).
STEP 2: You are required to FUND this remittance request. ie. you have to transfer the remittance amount from your US Bank account to SBI GLS's account with Bank of America, New York by means of a WIRE TRANSFER, either through login to your US Bank account website (if the facility is available) or you have to visit your US bank and do the same. The details of our US account / process is available in our website under RR.
ONLINE PROCESS FOR RAPID REMITTANCE FUNDING INITIATED BY A BOA CUSTOMER
Step 1: Go to the SBI GLS website and schedule X amount of dollars as transfer, making a note of transaction reference number RR00000000XXXXX. Best to take a printout of all the instructions as the details are all mentioned there.
Step 2: Login into BOA Net Banking and go to the Transfers tab (Note: For wire transfers, greater than 1000$, the Safe Pass feature of BOA needs to be activated on the website)
Step 3: Select "Outside the bank" and Domestic + Business (Checking account) and add the account using the Routing Number option (ABA routing number: 026009593). It will give you a warning that you are adding a BOA account as an "Outside the bank" account but the user needs to ignore this warning as he is using this account for wire transfer hence it must be classified as "Outside the bank"
Step 4: Fill in all the details of the address of the BOA receiving bank branch i.e. 100, 33rd Street West, New York, NY - 10001. Business name may be put as "State Bank of India - GLS" and nick-name as "SBI-GLS". The e-mail ID must be: ach.gls@sbi.co.in IMPORTANT: The Notes must mention the transaction reference number and ONLY THE TRANSACTION NUMBER, E.g.:- RR00000000XXXXX
Step 5: Click "Add Account" and it should show up in your "Outside the Bank" tab from now on to enable easy access for wire transfers. Do mention the RR00000000XXXXX number wherever possible including the message being sent by BOA on your behalf to the SBI business checking account.
Step 6: Now transfer the funds from your BOA account to said added account ( mention Ref no.)

For other details / queries , drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

FIRST STEP TO FINANCIAL PLANING

One more important thing which I would like to suggest that during this era of financial inclusion every one required to keep various financial instruments in his / her basket, however the ratio of these instruments may vary depending on personal circumstances but to start with I suggest that every one has to save at least 30% of annual income for future use and keep reserves up to 20% for loan / Credit card repayment. A Simple way to do this is given below
i) 10% in Recurring Deposit
ii) 10% in Mutual Funds
iii) 10% in equity market through shares or Bonds, alternatively opt for Bank Fixed Deposit
iv) Every earning member of the family also require to insure himself / herself for an amount not less than 100 times of his / her monthly Income and the best way is to take pure Term Insurance plan as this will give maximum risk cover and minimum premium load

 

 

For other details / queries , drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

NRO TO NRE FUND TRANSFER

Recently RBI has permitted that balance from NRO account can be transferred in NRE account within an annual ceiling of $1 mn

For this customer has to provide only 3 documents as detailed below


1. Form 15CB: this document is require to be submitted through CA of customer ( normally it takes only 3-4 hrs to CA for preparation)

2. Form 15CA: a form which require to be filled online at NSDL India website (https://onlineservices.tin.nsdl.com/TIN/JSP/tds/Form15CAHome.jsp ) , your CA will help you for filling this form

3. An application for fund repatriation

After submitting these forms, the bank will transfer funds of NRO account to NRE account

 

For other details / queries , drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

INVESTMENT IN BANK FIXED DEPOSITS

Whether is this a good time to Invest money in Indiaan Fixed Deposits ?

BENEFIT ILLUSTRATION FOR $ 100 AS ON AUGUST 2012
As on today
$ 100 => INR 5400 (presumed)
If this amount is invested in STDR for a period of 2 years then
Today ROI Maturity
INR 5400 => (9.00%) => INR 6452 (after 2 years)

After 2 years
We can presume INR to $ will be around 48-50, we take 50 for our illustration
INR 6452 => $ 129

So after 2 years $ 100 will become $ 129 (i.e. about 29% growth)
In addition to this; presently in India interest on NRE deposit is fully tax free
So keeping said illustration in view, we can say that this is a good time to send money to India for making NRE FD

For other details / queries , drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in

BANK FIXED DEPOSITS

Now these days banks are offering very attractive interest rates (@ 9% +) in India, so it is suggestible to keep at least one account with any Indian Bank and keep your investable funds in Bank FD.
Opening of bank account in India is not a difficult task; the banks are usually offering this facility through post itself

For other details / queries , drop a mail at prashant.singh@sbi.co.in