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A. 2:
Instant Transfer is a free real time rupee remittance facility from our branch to your / beneficiary’s account maintained with nearly 10,000 branches of State Bank Group (branches of SBI and associates) on the Core Banking network. (However there is a one time registration fee of $ 20/-). If your or beneficiary account is in any of the core banking branches of State Bank Group then provide the core banking account number and avail of this facility”. For details contact the branch at 212 521 3318 or 212 521 3317 or 212 521 3314 .
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A. 3:
Remittances to India
There are six ways in which money can be remitted to India by applying
to New York branch. These are:
(a) Rupee Remittance to Account: Rupee remittances for the credit of the account of the beneficiary can be sent by us to any branch of any bank.
To nearly 10000 branches of State Bank Group on the core banking network, remittance can be sent instantly, thru `Instant Transfer’ in a few minutes. There is no ceiling on such remittances. To nearly 5800 branches of SBI and 33000 branches of other banks, the remittance can be sent electronically, provided the beneficiary's computerized account number in full is provided in the remittance application. The electronic message is sent by either wire transfer (SWIFT) or State Bank Electronic Payment System
(STEPS) or Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), and the beneficiary's account is credited usually in 1 banking day, after the message is sent from New York. To other branches and other banks, the remittance is sent as wire transfer to our link branch in Chennai, which issues a rupee draft and sends it to the beneficiary branch/bank by courier (where available) or by registered post. At centers which are covered by the courier service, the draft is usually delivered within 3 to 7 days after dispatch from Chennai. At other centers, the draft is usually delivered in 1 to 2 weeks.
(b) Rupee Remittance to Beneficiary: Rupee remittances up
to the equivalent of $2500 can also be sent directly to the beneficiary
in India. In such cases, the remittance is sent as a wire transfer
to our link branch in Chennai, which issues a rupee draft and sends
it to the beneficiary by courier (where available) or by registered
post. The draft is payable to the beneficiary and is crossed "Account
Payee Only". At centers covered by the courier service, the draft
is usually delivered within 3 to 7 days after dispatch from Chennai.
At other centers, the draft is usually delivered in 1 to 2 weeks.
(c) Rupee Drafts: You can purchase rupee
drafts from us payable at a branch of your choice. There are nearly
2000 branches of SBI in India on which drafts can be drawn. Drafts
issued by New York branch have the MICR band and, therefore, can
be collected by any bank through the clearing system in any city
in India.
(d) Dollar Remittance to Account: U.S. dollar remittances
for the credit of the account of the beneficiary can be sent by
us to any branch of any bank in India. All such remittances, unless
these are for credit to dollar accounts with SBI's Indian branches,
will be converted to Indian rupees by the Indian branch to or through
which the remittance is sent. To 450 branches of SBI, the remittance
is sent directly by wire transfer (SWIFT), and the beneficiary's
account is credited usually within 1 or 2 banking days, after the
wire transfer is sent. To other branches and other banks, the remittance
is sent as wire transfer to a nearby branch, which forwards it to
the beneficiary branch/bank by mail.
(e) Dollar Official Checks: You can purchase U.S. dollar
official checks (called Remittance Official Checks) from us which
are payable at par at one of the nearly 450 foreign exchange dealing
branches of SBI in India.
(f) EUR or GBP Remittance to Account: Euro or Great Britain
Pound remittances for the credit of the account of the beneficiary
can be sent by us to 450 branches of SBI in India, which are authorized
to handle foreign exchange. The remittance is sent directly by wire
transfer (SWIFT). Value date for such remittances is generally 2
banking days after the date of transmission. Such remittances are
usually sent by customers who wish to save in these currencies in
India.
Remittances to Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka
Remittances for the credit of the account
of the beneficiary can be sent by us to any bank in Bangladesh,
Nepal and Sri Lanka. The remittance is sent by wire transfer (SWIFT)
to our correspondent branch/bank in the beneficiary country, which
forwards the remittance electronically or by draft sent to the beneficiary
bank by courier (where available) or by post.
Note: Processing of the remittance
beyond the point of delivery is the responsibility of the receiving
branch or bank, and is not within the purview of the services offered
by New York branch. Banking days in this section mean banking days
in destination country (excluding Saturdays), with the day of transmission
of wire transfer by New York branch being day zero.
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A. 4: There are seven ways in which you can pay
money to us for remittance.
These are:
(a) Personal Check or Certified Personal Check: The check
should be drawn on your account and be payable to "State Bank of
India, New York". Clearing period for personal checks is 3 banking
days for New York City checks and 5 banking days for other checks.
(b) Cashier's Check: The check must be purchased
from your account and should be payable to "State Bank of India,
New York". Please ensure that your name is printed on the check.
(c) Wire Transfer: Wire transfer should be from your account
to our Remittance Hold Account No. 830-330-840 using our ABA routing
No. 0260-0914-0.
(d) ACH Debit Authorization: Upon your authorization, we
can debit your account with your bank through the Automated Clearing
House (ACH). Refer Answer 10 for details.
(e) Account Debit: If you maintain an account with us at
New York branch, you may authorize us to debit that account.
(f) Cash: We do not accept cash for remittances.
(g) Debit or Credit Card: Subject to the limit set by the
card issuer, we can charge your valid debit or credit card up to
the limits given below:
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In person: $5000
Mail or fax: $1000 per period of 30 consecutive days.
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Charge to your card is treated
as cash advance. Only Visa and MasterCard are accepted. Please consult
with the card issuer regarding cash advance charges or other charges,
if any, that you might have to incur.
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A. 5: You can apply for remittance to New York
branch only if you are a Registered User of remittance services
of New York branch.If you are a Registered User or intend to become
one, download the Application for Remittance to India (form RMT-1)
or Application for Remittance to Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka
(form RMT-3) and fill the required details
legibly. Then mail it to us along with your payment check(s). If
you are paying by debit or credit card, please use form RMT-1C.
If you are paying to us by wire transfer, the Application should
be faxed to us at (212)521-3363 immediately after you have sent
the wire transfer. In this connection, please note that all such
wire transfers should reach us before 3 p.m. the same day so as
to enable us to send the outward remittance that day itself. In
cases, where we receive such wire transfers from your bank after
3 p.m., outward remittances for such wire transfers will be effected
only the next working day with that day's exchange rate applicable.
That is to say, the outward remittance by us will depend on the
time by which we receive the wire transfers into our account and
not on the time of origination by the remitter's bank.
If you wish to authorize an ACH debit, please refer Answer
10 below.
If you are sending funds to India to an organization which has a
definite cultural, economic, educational, religious or social program,
that organization must have an FCRA number allotted to it by the
Government of India under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation)
Act, 1976, and the FCRA number must be quoted on the remittance
application form.
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A. 6: Our commission (fee) for remittances is as
follows: click
here .
Mailing charges, where applicable, are given on the respective application
forms.
A. 7: Yes. If you want the remittance to be routed
through a SWIFT-facility branch of SBI of your choice, please mention
the SWIFT code of that branch in the appropriate box in the Application
for Remittance. Please note that in this case, the SWIFT-facility
branch may deduct its charges (if you are sending a rupee remittance),
which will have to be borne by you. Therefore, before applying for
a remittance to us, check with the branch, to which you are sending
the remittance, the following two aspects:
- Whether they would want the remittance
to be routed through a specific SWIFT-facility branch, for faster
forwarding of the remittance.
- Whether the SWIFT-facility branch would
deduct any charges.
If the beneficiary branch has an arrangement with
some SWIFT-facility branch for receiving remittances quickly and
without deduction of charges, it will be advantageous to send the
remittance via that SWIFT-facility branch. Otherwise, it is desirable
to let the remittance go in the usual way.
A. 8: Remittances which are routed through our
link branch in Chennai or our correspondents are under a special
arrangement, and no extra charges are payable regardless
of whether the remittance is being forwarded to a branch of SBI
or to another bank.
If the remittance is being sent to a bank at a
location where State Bank of India or its correspondent does not
have a branch, that bank may levy charges for collecting the remittance
instrument. Some banks may levy handling charges for crediting the
remittance draft to the beneficiary's account. Please check this
aspect with the beneficiary's bank.
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A. 9: State Bank of India, New York branch does
not have electronic account-viewing access to branches of State
Bank of India in India, or to other banks. It is, therefore, not
possible for us to know whether the account of the beneficiary has
been credited or not. We would request you to confirm with the beneficiary
within a reasonable time after sending a remittance through us and
bring to our notice any non-delivery of wire transfer as soon as
possible, but within 45 days of sending the remittance. We will
investigate, free of charge, non-delivery as expeditiously as possible.
Please note that investigation after 45 days either may not be possible
or may entail additional costs, which will have to be borne by you.
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A. 10: Automated Clearing House (ACH) is an electronic processing
facility in the United States that enables a bank to debit (or credit)
an account with another bank. It is an electronic substitute for
checks.
How To Opt For This Facility
While registering for our remittance service, or any time thereafter,
you can opt for paying us through the ACH by signing form ADP, which
is an Authorization Agreement for debiting your account, and making
a $2 payment to us by means of a personal check
drawn on the account on which you want the facility.
Form ADP ( fill-in PDF
) requires you to fill information about your bank account, especially
your bank's routing number and your account number, which is available
on your check. Click here
to view a sample check that will tell you where to locate the routing
number and the account number on a check.
How To Use This Facility
After you receive a communication from us that your agreement has
been accepted by us, you can apply for remittance on form RMT-1(ACH)
(Fill-in PDF MS-Word),
which is an Application for Remittance to India-cum-ACH Debit Instruction
or RMT-3(ACH), which
is an Application for Remittance to Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka-cum-ACH
Debit Instruction.
Advantages of This Facility:
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You will be able to apply for a remittance
by fax also, which will save time and expense.
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Funds will become available to us on the 3rd
day, instead of the usual 5th day in case of check clearance.
So your remittance will be sent two days earlier. The table
below shows when your remittance will be sent, assuming there
are no intervening holidays:
| ACH
Instruction Received On |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
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Your Remittance Sent On Following |
Thursday |
Friday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
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Ceiling on Amount
This facility is essentially meant for sending regular, but small
value remittances. Therefore, there is a ceiling of $5,000 ($10,000
for own account with SBI) on the amount that you can send in a period
of 30 consecutive days using this facility. As a measure of additional
safety, an ACH debit instruction sent by you by fax may be acted
upon after telephonically confirming with you that you had sent
the instruction. Therefore, if you are not contactable by phone
after you send the instruction by fax, your remittance may not be
sent..
Cancellation of the ACH Agreement
You can cancel the agreement for ACH debit any time you want by
submitting form ADP(C).
If you wish to change the authorization from one account to another
account, cancel the agreement for the first account, and submit
a fresh agreement for the other account.
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A. 11: If you need to send remittances to India
every month, you can give us a one-time standing instruction on
Form SI. Depending upon the
mode you choose to pay us with, you will need to enclose to form
SI one or more of the remittance application forms.
To enable the beneficiary to receive the funds quickly, it will
be desirable if the beneficiary has account with a branch of State
Bank of India which has facility for receiving wire transfers (SWIFT)
(refer Answer 13 for details).
To know more about the Automated Clearing House (ACH) debit facility,
please refer Answer 10 .
A. 12: There is no ceiling on the amount of remittance
that you can send through us so long as the purpose and the source
of funds are legitimate.
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A. 13: There are 450 branches of State Bank of
India in India which have SWIFT facility
(SWIFT is known as wire transfer in common parlance). There are
nearly 3300 branches of State Bank of India which have State Bank
Electronic Payment System (STEPS) facility (which includes branches
which have SWIFT facility).
View a list of STEPS-facility branches alphabetically (PDF
or HTML) or
enter the 4-digit branch code below to find whether that branch
has STEPS facility
When a remittance is sent to these branches, the beneficiary’s account
is credited generally in 1 to 3 days (excluding Saturdays and holidays).
Communication difficulties may sometimes arise, especially in case
of branches located in villages and small towns, the North-East
and the Himalayas, whence the time taken could be longer.
To view all branches of State Bank of India in India, use the Branch
Locator.
The Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system is a centralized payments
system operated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in India, to
which about 11330 branches of 84 banks in India are linked. To view
a list of banks and their branches that participate in the RTGS
system, visit the RBI website. (To reach the relevant page, click
here. The list can be accessed through links at the bottom of
the page.) Each participating branch is assigned an IFSC (Indian
Financial System Code) by the RBI, which please provide in your
remittance application to enable our link branch in Chennai to forward
your remittance using the RTGS system. When a remittance is forwarded
through the RTGS system, the beneficiary’s account is credited
generally in 1 to 3 days (excluding Saturdays and holidays).
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A. 14: To make a contribution by check, please
make the check payable to the “Prime Minister’s Relief
Fund” and mail it to the following address:
Prime Minister’s Relief Fund,
C/o Consulate General of India,
3 East 64th Street,
New York NY 10021
To make a contribution by wire transfer or by credit card, please
visit http://www.pmindia.nic.in and follow the instructions given
there.
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