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A. 2:
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 3000 branches of SBI, the remittance
is sent by either wire transfer (SWIFT) or State
Bank Electronic Payment System (STEPS), and the
beneficiary's account is credited usually in 1 to 3 banking days,
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. 3: 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".
(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 9 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: If you come in person, you can pay cash up to $2500.
(g) Debit or Credit Card: We can charge your valid debit
or credit card up to $5000 when you come in person or up to $1000
when you apply by mail or fax, or up to the limit set by the card
issuer, whichever is lower. 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. 4: 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.
If you wish to authorize an ACH debit, please refer Answer
9 below.
A. 5: Our commission (fee) for remittances is as
follows: click
here .
Mailing charges, where applicable, are given on the respective application
forms.
A. 6: 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. 7: 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. 8: 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. 9: 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. You can
authorize us to debit only that account on which you have
already given us a personal check, or are giving a personal
check (in case of new registration). For example, if you have made,
or are making, a payment to us (amount is immaterial) by means of
a check drawn on your account number 123456 with My Favorite Bank
(MFB), you can only authorize us to debit account number 123456
with MFB, and not any other account.
Form ADP 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.
To download form ADP, click here.
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:
-
You will be able to apply
for a remittance by fax also, which will save time and expense.
-
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 |
|
Your Remittance Sent On Following
|
Thursday
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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 would generally be a ceiling
of $5000 on the amount that you can send to an account, other than
your own account with State Bank of India, using this facility.
As a measure of additional safety, an ACH debit instruction sent
by you by fax will generally 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. We may, at our discretion,
waive both the above conditions.
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. 10: Exchange Rate Guarantee (ERG) is a facility
offered to Registered Users that ensures that the U.S. dollar-Indian
rupee exchange rate quoted to them during the day is guaranteed
even if the money is received by New York Branch after business
hours (i.e. after 3 p.m. but before 6 p.m., EST) on that day. To
do a rupee remittance at a guaranteed rate, call (212)521-3318/3310
between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday. If
the quoted rate is acceptable to you, immediately send the dollar
equivalent funds (plus $10 commission, where applicable) by wire
transfer to us. Complete form RMT-1 in the usual way and in box
'E', write the following: "Agreed rate for this transaction
is nn.nn" (where nn.nn is the rate quoted to
you). Then fax (a) form RMT-1 and (b) the evidence of having sent
the wire transfer to (212)521-3363.
We will give you the agreed rate even if your remittance is required
to be sent on the next banking day due to late receipt of your wire
transfer. However, if your wire transfer is not received on the
day on which we have quoted you a rate, we may not be able to give
you the agreed rate.
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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 9.
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 3000 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.
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A. 14: State Bank of India, New York strives to
give you the best, firm Indian rupee exchange rates. For a limited
time (till December 31, 2004), we can make the best better with
the following offer:
GROUP REMITTANCE EXCHANGE AUGMENTATION
TECHNIQUE (“GREAT”)
The “GREAT” offer works like this: If two or more Registered
Users send their remittance together, then they all get the exchange
rate for the slab applicable to the total amount
sent by them.
Example:
Suppose Ravi, Sanjay and Amit each wanted to send $10,000. Individually,
they would have got the rate applicable for $10,000. If they sent
us their remittance applications together, they would get the rate
applicable for $30,000. Isn’t the “GREAT” offer
great!
TERMS OF OFFER
(a) All applicants must be Registered Users.
(b) All applicants must make applications for
remittance individually but submit the
applications to us together (if they come in person) or
send in one cover (if sent
by mail).
(c) All applicants must pay individually by cashier’s
checks.
(d) Every application must be super scribed “Under
GREAT Offer”.
This offer is applicable to Euro and GBP
remittances as well.
So why wait! Ask all your NRI friends to enroll
for our service and avail this “GREAT” offer.
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