Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Deposit Money in NRO account
HSBC bank is offering (http://www.hsbc.co.in/1/2/personal/bank-accounts/fixed-deposits/interest-rates) 8% interest rate on 3 year deposit. This seems quite attractive for NRIs. We can transfer money to NRO account and get 8% return compared to 1% or so we are getting here. I am quite tempted, however there are two things I need to sort out before taking the plunge:
1) Currency risk - There is possibility that rupee can depreciate against US dollar. This can result in reduced gains or evel loss of principle. I am not very bullish on US dollar given the fiscal deficit of US and hence willing to take this currency risk.
2) How to bring the money back: I have to find out process of bringing money back to US. If you know about this send me a note
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Deposit Rates In India
I had some money lying in my HDFC account in India and I wanted to keep in a fixed deposit to earn better returns. I was searching for interest rates offered by various banks and came across http://www.ratekhoj.com/.
It is nice website which lets you search deposit rates based on institution type (private, public, company, post office), amount, term etc. Check out this website if you are thinking of making a fixed deposit in bank.
Another interesting website is http://www.rupeetimes.com/. This article also lets you find the deposit rates from various banks. It also has good educational article on taxation, savings etc.
It is nice website which lets you search deposit rates based on institution type (private, public, company, post office), amount, term etc. Check out this website if you are thinking of making a fixed deposit in bank.
Another interesting website is http://www.rupeetimes.com/. This article also lets you find the deposit rates from various banks. It also has good educational article on taxation, savings etc.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Remit2India Service Review
Couple of my colleagues had very bad service experience with Remit2India. Their main complaints are:
1) First one didn't get the rate promised by the website. She understand that rate depend on the date on which money gets cleared. During the entire duration of the transaction, site showed the rate no lower than 48.50 however he got the rate of 47.75. This seems like downright fraud. Also it took around 10 days for the transaction to complete which is very slow.
2) Second one had very bad experience with the customar service. He tried to cancel the transaction. Person on the phone asked him to send email. They never replied to email(s). He called again and was told that they are creating a ticket. Next time my friend called, person didn't know anything about the ticket. My friend is very unhappy with the service.
From these two references it seems remit2India is not a service to use. If you have used remit2india, please share your experince.
1) First one didn't get the rate promised by the website. She understand that rate depend on the date on which money gets cleared. During the entire duration of the transaction, site showed the rate no lower than 48.50 however he got the rate of 47.75. This seems like downright fraud. Also it took around 10 days for the transaction to complete which is very slow.
2) Second one had very bad experience with the customar service. He tried to cancel the transaction. Person on the phone asked him to send email. They never replied to email(s). He called again and was told that they are creating a ticket. Next time my friend called, person didn't know anything about the ticket. My friend is very unhappy with the service.
From these two references it seems remit2India is not a service to use. If you have used remit2india, please share your experince.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Citi Bank vs ICICI Money2India
One of my colleague has Citi Bank's NRI account (www.citinri.com) and uses it to send money to India. He was talking to me about pathetic rates he was getting from Citi bank. I asked him to try ICICI Money2India. He wanted to compare both services so he sent 1000$ from each service on the same day to his account in India.
A week later he told me he is never using Citi Bank again for the following reasons:
1) He got Rs 39.20 rate from Citi Bank and Rs 40 from ICICI bank. That is 80 paisa more for each dollar from ICICI bank. This is huge if you are sending big chunk of money.
2) ICICI money reached 1 day earlier than Citi bank.
3) ICICI has online tracking facility so you can check the status of your transaction. Citi bank has no such option.
Now I wonder who is using Citi Bank for transferring money to India and why?
A week later he told me he is never using Citi Bank again for the following reasons:
1) He got Rs 39.20 rate from Citi Bank and Rs 40 from ICICI bank. That is 80 paisa more for each dollar from ICICI bank. This is huge if you are sending big chunk of money.
2) ICICI money reached 1 day earlier than Citi bank.
3) ICICI has online tracking facility so you can check the status of your transaction. Citi bank has no such option.
Now I wonder who is using Citi Bank for transferring money to India and why?
Friday, February 1, 2008
Options to Receive money From India
There are plenty of services available for sending money to India. I was wondering what are the rules and what kind of services are available for reverse, i.e. for sending money from India to US.
I checked the RBI web site and found following link http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/FAQView.aspx?Id=66 which explains all the rules. As per this Indians can send $2oo,000 overseas without RBI approval. This money can be used for buying property, debt, stock or you can just keep in a foreign bank account.
This $200,000 limit is per year.
Regarding how to transfer money, I couldn't find any services. But I guess local Indian bank will transfer money to your overseas account by charging some commission.
I found one thing interesting about this $200000 limit. It is set in dollar, so with Rupee appreciating rapidly, this limit is decreasing in rupees. I wonder why RBI is not setting the limit in Rupees.
I checked the RBI web site and found following link http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/FAQView.aspx?Id=66 which explains all the rules. As per this Indians can send $2oo,000 overseas without RBI approval. This money can be used for buying property, debt, stock or you can just keep in a foreign bank account.
This $200,000 limit is per year.
Regarding how to transfer money, I couldn't find any services. But I guess local Indian bank will transfer money to your overseas account by charging some commission.
I found one thing interesting about this $200000 limit. It is set in dollar, so with Rupee appreciating rapidly, this limit is decreasing in rupees. I wonder why RBI is not setting the limit in Rupees.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Rupee record high in 10 years against dollar
At 39.285 for 1 US dollar, Rupee is at 10 year high. I think dollar will continue to fall against rupee for next year. Why do I think so? For the following reasons:
- Fed in US has very strongly indicated that it will continue to cut rates in US. This will accelerate the flight of money from US to places where investors can get better returns (i.e. where interest rates are higher).
- Indian economy is doing very well and most of the business people and government officials are very upbeat about continued strong economic growth. On the other hand US economy is heading towards a recession. This is causing lots of people to move money from US to India. This is getting reflected in Indian stock market. While US market fell heavily in last two weeks, Indian market is defying all global indices and reaching record highs everyday. Note Exchange rate is all about demand and supply. More dollar move in to India, more it will depreciate.
- Some very large IPOs (ex Reliance Power, OIL, ICICI subsidiaries, Wockhardt Hospital) are scheduled for next year. This will cause further investment from FIIs in India.
- Real Estate prices are going up in India. Many NRIs want to maintain roots in India or want to move back to India in future. These NRIs are buying real estate in India in record numbers either because they think it is great investment or because of fear that it will be out of their budget very soon.
I am very pessimistic about dollar. In this environment, I think it is wise to move some percentage of assets to India and invest there. I would love to hear what other NRIs are doing?
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