If you work and reside in Australia and want to send money back to India for a family function, how do you figure out the best way to go about it? A few factors might come to mind, such as transaction fees, exchange rates, speed, uncertainty, etc. This article will compare different service providers, including traditional banks, fintech startups, and crypto platforms to help save money when sending money from Australia to India.
Fees for international transfer
When making an international transfer through a remittance provider, you will be charged a remittance fee for sending money outside of Australia, such as India. The remittance fee includes conversion fees, recipient charges and remittance fees charged by the destination country’s financial institution.
Each service provider has its own set of rates. Be careful about the inconsistency of exchange rates and hidden charges for different amounts which might lead to losing money without your knowledge.
Wise.com (formerly Transferwise), Remitly, and Western Union are well-known money service providers which operate in the majority of countries worldwide with a well-established online system. However, new technology brings new solutions, such as Wise.com, XREX, and Swyftx. We will discuss this further later.
Amount vs. Fees: Be Careful of Cost Fluctuation
Many platforms charge according to the amount you send. However, the rule is not transparent and you must be careful about cost fluctuation or you might lose a considerable amount of money. We understand that every penny counts for people sending money home to their loved ones for daily expenditure, healthcare, education, and other purposes.
The charts below show fees on Wise, MoneyGram, Western Union, and PayPal when sending 100 Australian Dollar (AUD), 1,000 AUD, and 10,000 AUD to India Rupee (INR). You can clearly see that some platforms charge an unreasonable amount of fees that users might not be aware of if not collecting information beforehand.
Furthermore, there are some platforms that claim to charge zero fees, but their exchange rates are not competitive compared to other service providers. From the chart below, you can see that Western Union charges no fees for sending 10,000 AUD to INR, but due to its exchange rate, the total amount of INR received is much less than Wise.
From the total amount of INR the recipient receives, it’s clear that both transfer fees and exchange rates matter when you send AUD to INR.
Using crypto exchanges to transfer AUD to INR
Cryptocurrencies are global in nature unlike fiat currencies. As a result, many financial institutions have started tipping their toes to create new crypto strategies, which is one reason there is more liquidity readily available now more than ever. One place where anyone can easily access liquidity is by using crypto exchanges, which help users create custodial accounts, convert fiat money into cryptocurrencies, and transfer anywhere globally.
Crypto exchanges generally collect fees in three forms: 1) deposit fees, 2) trading fees and 3) withdrawal fees. They certainly vary from exchange to exchange and often run discounts over trade fees depending upon the volume traded or coin/token traded, usage of native coin/token to pay trade fees or referral discounts. The following lists popular exchanges in Australia and fees collected:
For people who want to send money abroad at a reasonable and affordable cost, using a crypto exchange is much more economical compared to sending through traditional banks which charge up to 6% for global remittances.
Below is a step-by-step guide to using crypto exchange for remittances from Australia to India.
Buy USDT using AUD directly on Crypto Exchanges
From the above table, it is clear that eToro and COINJAR exchanges allow users to buy cryptocurrencies at almost zero fees. Now using the AUD, you can buy crypto stablecoins such as USDT. Since stablecoins are pegged with USD, their value is preserved from volatility unlike other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, etc. To buy USDT, you can transfer AUD into the exchange or use your credit/debit card to purchase directly.
For example, if you can transfer 1,000 AUD to your CoinJar account, the deposit fee is zero and you will receive 712 USDT (the price is defined at the time of writing on CoinJar) in your CoinJar wallet; the trading fee is zero within the exchange.
However, please be aware that Australian banks may charge for purchases made via credit/debit cards, which might cost 2–3% on average. In such a case, you can save bank fees by opting for the cheapest or free way to deposit your AUD into the crypto exchange.
Transfer USDT to Indian exchanges
The purchased $712 USDT can be withdrawn to crypto-fiat exchanges where you can convert it into INR, and also be able to withdraw INR into your INR bank account(s) directly. Below are the list of crypto exchanges where you can sell USDT to INR and their fee structure:
These exchanges have no withdrawal fees posed to withdraw INR to Indian bank accounts. You can link most Indian bank accounts to your Indian exchange accounts, such as HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Citibank, Yes Bank, and other national banks such as State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Punjab National Bank.
The USDT can be moved through either the Ethereum network (ERC20) or Tron network (TRC20). However, we recommend using the Tron network, which is much faster and cheaper, typically 1 USDT for any USDT withdrawal. This 1 USDT is deducted from the value entered during the withdrawal. To know more about TRC-20 USDT and ERC-20 USDT, you can visit What’s the difference between TRC20-USDT and ERC20-USDT.
Considering you chose XREX due to its speedy and zero fees withdrawals of INR, if you transfer 712 USDT through the TRC20 network to your XREX TRC 20 wallet address, you will receive 711 USDT.
Withdrawing INR to Indian bank accounts
The 711 USDT in your XREX account can now be converted into INR directly on crypto exchanges. At the time of this writing, 1 USDT = 77.09 INR on XREX, which means 711 USDT can be converted into 54,810 INR. This transaction includes 0.1% of conversion fees. Finally, you can withdraw 54,810 INR to your Indian bank account.
The standard price of 1,000 AUD is 53,692 INR on xe.com at the time of this writing. It may seem unbelievable to get more value than the standard price, but it can be convincing once you become aware that the USDT has a premium in India, making it expensive to buy but profitable if sold for INR in India. By using crypto exchanges you can legally bag a profit by selling 711 USDT for 1,181 INR above the standard price.
The downside of using crypto exchanges is that you must first set up accounts on multiple platforms, i.e. Australian and Indian-based crypto exchanges, and. complete one-time identity verification procedures in order to withdraw money. But once platforms are set up, you can operate them 24/7/365 without any third-party involvement. As you can see, the rate is much better and the speed is faster. Moreover, the uncertainty and risk are extremely low if you use regulated and compliant exchanges such as XREX which is run by a team of cybersecurity professionals with decades of collective experience.
Conclusion
By using crypto exchanges as a medium, AUD can be easily transferred on your own to INR in Indian banks quickly, securely, and economically at a competitive rate. Unlike traditional financial institutions which have hefty charges on remittances, crypto exchange charges are comparatively transparent, economical, fast, and efficiently documented.
As cryptocurrency is still in its early stage, many people might hesitate to adopt it. However, there are increasingly more secure and regulated crypto exchanges such as CoinJar and XREX, that are trusted because of their efficiency, low fees, and secured transactions. With these new platforms, you can send money from Australia to India and save fees on your international transfer with ease!