For transfers equal to or above $10,000, the cheapest options will be using the SWIFT Transfers directly from banks.

However, if you want to opt for the Money Transfer Operators, there’s a catch. Let’s understand it.

For operators such as MoneyGram and Western Union, there are no transfer fees if sending money through bank transfers. Now, MoneyGram will charge you a fee of $2.99 for transfers made through Credit/Debit Cards.

Kotak Click2Remit has a charge on the exchange rate, equal to Rs.742.19 (GST) on interbank transfers.

The major factor of remittance isn’t the transfer fee but the exchange rates.

For most of these operators, these rates change rapidly. Here, you can look at Transferwise that guarantees that there won’t be any change in the exchange rate shown to you for a stipulated time (currently 89 hours). A fee is charged for this service. This fee is inclusive in this $10,000, you don’t pay extra. Tansferwise would charge you a fixed fee of $60.56 (current) on $10,000 transfer along with extra charges on the medium chosen. [Bank Debit (ACH) fee is $34.88 and wire transfer is $5.34]. Therefore, in total the fee can go up to $95.44 on a $10,000 transfer.

So, if sending $10,000 they’ll only convert $9,904.56 but on a higher exchange rate.

Here’s a list of ongoing exchange rates (As on 05/09/2020) and the amount that’ll be received in India with some operators on the transfer of $10,000. (As on 05/09/2020)

Transferwise (with max. $95.44 fee): Converted at 73.2905, Rs. 725,910 received

MoneyGram (no fees): Converted at 72.7137, Rs. 727,137 received

Kotak Click2Remit (INR 742.19 fee): Converted at 72.4656, Rs. 723,913 received

Western Union (no fees): Converted at 73.0626, Rs. 730,626 received

Remit2India (no fees): Converted at 72.64, Rs. 724,900 received

From here, you can choose the cheapest medium including all the factors such as exchange rate and transfer fee.

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