A transparent weekly benchmark of NRI remittance pricing. Eight major providers, six corridors, expressed as % cost above mid-market on a $1,000-equivalent send. Lower is better. Methodology disclosed below; data refreshed every Monday at 09:00 IST.
% cost above mid-market on a $1,000-equivalent remittance to India. Mid-market is XE Tradable Rates API mid-rate at 09:00 IST on May 2, 2026.
| Provider | USD-INR | GBP-INR | AED-INR | CAD-INR | SGD-INR | AUD-INR | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wise | 0.45% | 0.52% | 0.61% | 0.58% | 0.49% | 0.55% | 0.53% |
| Remitly | 0.65% | 0.78% | 0.71% | 0.84% | 0.69% | 0.72% | 0.73% |
| XE Money | 0.82% | 0.91% | 0.88% | 0.95% | 0.87% | 0.92% | 0.89% |
| BookMyForex | 1.10% | 1.25% | 1.18% | 1.32% | 1.15% | 1.28% | 1.21% |
| Western Union | 1.45% | 1.62% | 1.55% | 1.78% | 1.51% | 1.68% | 1.60% |
| Thomas Cook | 1.85% | 2.10% | 1.95% | 2.25% | 1.90% | 2.05% | 2.02% |
| HDFC retail wire | 2.05% | 2.25% | 2.18% | 2.42% | 2.15% | 2.32% | 2.23% |
| ICICI retail wire | 2.10% | 2.30% | 2.22% | 2.48% | 2.20% | 2.38% | 2.28% |
Tap or scroll horizontally on mobile to see all corridors. Provider names link to the live signup page (some are affiliate links — disclosure on /about).
Pick the cell that matches your corridor + amount. Anything in green is competitive; anything in red is a meaningful tax on your transfer.
Wise wins on USD-INR and most corridors. Remitly's "Express" tier wins if you need same-day delivery and you're inside their first-promo window. Avoid bank wires for this size.
Larger sizes typically improve spreads by 5–15 bps. Wise still leads but for size-sensitive corridors (CAD-INR, AUD-INR), call BookMyForex or your bank's NRI desk for a "negotiated" rate. The headline rate isn't always the final rate above $25K.
Western Union, Thomas Cook, and Wall Street Forex have the deepest physical pickup networks. The cost is the cost — for cash, you pay the spread. Don't fight it; just don't do it for online wires.
The auto-debit FX rate your bank applies is usually retail-wire spread (2.0–2.4%). Ask the lender to allow EMI from a Wise or BookMyForex Indian beneficiary account. On a ₹50,000 EMI you save ~₹800 per month, ~₹10,000 a year.
Reproducible. If you compute this differently and get different numbers, write to me — I will update the methodology.
For each provider × corridor at the snapshot timestamp:
Eight providers, chosen for: market share with NRIs (Wise, Remitly, XE Money, Western Union), Indian-domiciled FX networks with AD-II licences (BookMyForex, Thomas Cook, EbixCash, Wall Street Forex — three of which are Credila's named outward-remittance partners), and the two largest retail bank wire spreads (HDFC, ICICI). Future iterations may add Revolut, OFX, Travelex, and SBI/Axis bank wires once we have ≥4 weeks of consistent data.
USD, GBP, AED, CAD, SGD, AUD chosen for: largest NRI remittance corridors by RBI Section 6 inflow data; cleanest FX liquidity at retail tiers; consistent provider coverage. EUR-INR, JPY-INR, MYR-INR will be added in Q3 2026 when we have stable provider data on those routes.
Monday because it captures the weekend-to-week-open spread reset and gives readers a stable Monday-morning data point. 09:00 IST because that's after London open (14:30 GMT prior day equivalent for end-of-week, sufficient to have post-FOMC data when relevant) and before US market open. Same timestamp every week ensures comparability across snapshots.
Each Monday's snapshot is archived at /money/fx-cost-index/YYYY-MM-DD (archive page coming Q3 2026). Underlying data (provider quotes, mid-market reference, manual entries flagged) is published as a downloadable CSV alongside each snapshot. If you spot an error, email [email protected] and I'll correct + note the change in the next week's audit log.
Nobody publishes this data publicly. Every provider hides the spread inside the displayed rate. RBI doesn't compile a comparison. Most aggregator sites are affiliate-driven, which is fine, but not citable in serious journalism. There's no public, transparent, time-stamped record of what NRI remittance actually costs in 2026.
So I built one. Methodology is open. The Monday refresh is non-negotiable. Where I have an affiliate relationship I disclose it, and the relationship doesn't move the data — it can't, because the source is the providers' own published rates.
If a journalist, blogger, finance writer, Reddit user or NRI uncle quotes this index — citation appreciated, no permission needed. The point of building this is for it to be cited.
For the actual transaction (live rates, your specific corridor and amount, provider ranking for THIS send), use the interactive tool: FX Compare →. The Cost Index is the reference; FX Compare is the transaction.
The FX Cost Index updates weekly. Money Matters bi-weekly newsletter pulls the corridor highlights into a 4-minute scannable issue along with Indian policy changes, live opportunities, and reader questions.
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