Money2India - ICICI Money Transfer. Review on ICICI Bank

• 
  
  
  • This review is mainly restricted to the ICICI's Money Transfer facility from abroad to India -- it's branded as ''Money2India''.
  
  
  

* I have last used the service in Year 2006. Things might have changed a huge lot between 2006 and 2012 (as I write this adjunct). No idea about customer service levels, transaction reliability etc. today. Recently, heard that SBI Transfer has the best Exchange + they are a trifle faster too! Check-out their website: https://remit.onlinesbi.com/.

First, my background. I used to be an NRI based in US for the past 5 years. I need to send money to my parents for their support on a monthly basis and have been doing that for sometime (> 5 yrs) now. My views are based on my own personal experiences. My background given , just so that you get to understand & appreciate what I say here.

Money2India has been in existence for more than 7 years now. Previously, they used to have less options (i.e methods) for sending money to India - but of late, they have increased the options available to send money. Currently, one can even send money on credit i.e. using VISA credit card (ofcourse there are more Gateway charges for this). Previously -- for NRIs, CitiBank used to be ONLY (ok, that's exaggerated, but they used to have the majority market share here) option for NRIs to send money to India. Open a Rupee NRE Savings Account (US $1000 min balance) and send money thru web or give the power of attorney signed on your parents name - so that they could get to use the money in the account. CitiBank effort was laudable and as usual with MNC type service, almost all NRIs used to use this service. CitiBank used to give pittance for the US $1000 deposit as interest rates; they also used to take advantage of the currency exchange difference.

Enter Money2India. ICICI Money transfer facility. To compare with other (Indian) Banks options, ICICI gives most options and is better, faster. I have not recently compared it with Citi - as I have stopped using Citi long time back. Even then, I feel ICICI options are better and more than what Citi gives. ICICI gives you both online and offline transaction possibilities and most importantly, give you a unique Reference number to track the money being sent. They also give you a Better exchange rate possible.

These are some of the options available. This is not extensive, you will find more information at ICICI's Money2India site:

* eTransfer: Complete online transfer from ANY account abroad (need not be ICICI) to almost ANY Account (again, need not be ICICI) in India. I have been using this option extensively -- if you give the RIGHT information , your money reaches the beneficiary in appx. 7 days time (incl holidays). RIGHT information is important. If you give wrong info, although they give you a unique reference number to track the money being sent, since the volume of transactions are high, it will take some time to set the things to the right course. This is easy, efficient and best option. I have used it many times.

*PowerTransfer: Wire Transfer the money from ANY account abroad to ANY account in India (again, both need not be ICICI A/c). I have used this , the last time I had sent money using this option - money was sent within 18 hrs (my beneficiary had an ICICI A/c). Use this option, if you are sending LARGE amount of money. Can also be used if the money is to be reached quickly.

*ChequeTransfer: This options allows one to send a cheque to a US address (thereby saving postage and most importantly, time - for it to reach India) and transfer $$ to Rupees. Again, both sides need not have to be ICICI A/c holders.

*CardTransfer: Transfer money using credit card. I have personally not used it. I believe, the charges should be high.

One more benefit is, money can be sent via Bank DDs to your beneficiary, if you happen to live in a remote location. Also, online transfers are available to non-ICICI Banks as well (I think they cover 30 other Banks) is major towns and cities. As I said, I have used this facility extensively for the last 5 years and not even once, I have had any problems. What is absolutely CRITICAL is entering the RIGHT information when you send the money. I have never used their Customer Service - but I never had to.

I have less than good opinions about ICICI as a Bank ( PSBs have realised they have improve & also other Indian pvt sector Banks are getting better now). But their Money2India is FAR SUPERIOR than other available options currently. I have heard bad stories about Remit2India (and its clone SamacharTransfer, HDFC Transfer etc) - I think, they need to stabilize their operations. They are likely to get better over a period of time.

SBI has launched their GLS (onlinesbi.com/gls) - check it out - SBI could be better in exchange rates.