Private sector Federal Bank has launched a web-based service for remittance of NRI money from the US, on Wednesday. Christened Fed-India Remit Service (FIRSE), the facility allows NRIs with dollar accounts in the US to send money to India without any charges, bank chairman M Venugopalan told reporters. The bank has developed a web-engine for US-based NRIs, who can register at the site and make use of the service.
?Beneficiaries will receive the money in 3-4 days at competitive exchange rates without any service charges,? he said. The customer can also give one-time instruction for periodic remittances. Other than cheques and DD, which works at snail?s pace, NRIs working abroad have to utilise the telegraphic transfer (TT) to remit money, he added. It is estimated that TTs cost $25-50 per service.
Through FIRSE, customers can send the money from anywhere in the world at any time of the day. The web-based service also shows the status of the transfer, Venugopalan said.
Bank of America (BOA) is the correspondent bank in the US and the facility uses the service of Automated Clearing House (ACH), which is a paperless clearinghouse in the US. The request of the customer is transferred to the correspondent bank and the beneficiary gets the money, most probably on the third day at the prevailing exchange rate, he said.
FIRSE ensures 100% security by using 128-bit SSL technology to transfer the information in an encrypted form.