SBI to kick off e-remittance for US NRIs

State Bank of India (SBI) will shortly kickstart its web-enabled remittance service for non-resident Indians based in the US.

Global Link Service (GLS), the bank's in-house business process outsourcing division, has put in place the systems required to facilitate quick remittances from the US to India.

To make a remittance, all that an US-based NRI will need to do is to log on to SBI's website and post remittance instructions "" the sender's bank account details, the amount to be sent/ debited, and the Indian receiver's bank account details.

The whole transaction from the posting of the instruction to the receipt of funds by the beneficiary can be completed in four days.

The entire process takes into account the time required to process the debit-credit instructions at the automated clearing house in the US and the time-zone difference.

"SBI's remittance service is targeted at NRIs, who can send up to $5000 a transaction. Unlike money transfer companies, which charge very high commissions for remitting funds in a single day, our pricing will be very competitive," said sources clued in to the developments.

Of the 9,000-odd branches of SBI, 3,000 branches are positioned to effect electronic funds transfer. Using the EFT route, a beneficiary's account can be directly credited.

Where there is no EFT facility available at a branch, the GLS will courier a draft to the beneficiary's address.

The charges for EFT is likely be Rs 100 per transaction, while that for each draft will range between Rs 45 and Rs 75, depending upon the amount being sent.

The GLS, which last year processed foreign currency instruments worth $ 8.3 billion, is currently web-enabling remittances from the Middle East.

Earlier representatives of Gulf-based exchange companies in India would write cheques and courier it to the beneficiaries upon receipt of instructions via e-mail from the Gulf. There was a danger that the e-mail could be tampered.

However, since December 2004 exchange companies are uploading information pertaining to the remitter and sender onto SBI's website, which is secured with a 128 bit encryption.