Why paying India is hard
Updated 13 Oct 2026
An international wire to India often passes through three or more banks, and any of them can deduct a charge. This page lists the charges, who takes each one, and what they came to on a $4,500 paymentat today's rate.
Charges on a wire#
Four charges come out of almost every wire. The largest is the FX margin, which never appears as a line item.
₹3,334
Sending bank fee
₹1,905
SWIFT / correspondent
₹8,468
FX margin
₹471
GST on conversion
Not counted, because they depend on your bank: its inward remittance fee, any FIRA fee, and 18% GST on both. Wire figures are typical, not any one bank's. GST uses the CGST Rule 32 slab.
Tracking a wire#
Once a wire leaves the sender's bank, neither side can see where it is. The sending bank can give the payer a reference (the UTR, or a SWIFT gpi tracker if both banks support it), but your bank only reports the payment once it is credited.
In practice that means: the payer says it's sent, your bank says nothing has arrived, and the only way to find it is for the payer to raise a trace with their bank.
On the payer’s side#
- Many patients and smaller clinics don't hold US dollars and have to buy them first, at their own bank's margin.
- A SWIFT transfer form asks for an IFSC, a SWIFT/BIC and sometimes an intermediary bank. Mistakes get the payment returned, minus fees.
- Some countries limit how much foreign currency a person can send out, or how often.
Paperwork#
Foreign income needs a FIRA with the right purpose code before your CA can treat it as an export of services. With a plain wire, your bank picks the purpose code from whatever the sender wrote, and you usually have to request the FIRA yourself. The compliance page covers what goes on it.