
- Competitive rates
- Various delivery methods
- Delivery within minutes available
- Excellent Android and iOS app ratings
Looking for the best and cheapest way to send money from Canada to family, friends or businesses in India (or even to your own overseas bank account)?
Don’t head straight to your Canadian bank – compare specialist money transfer services instead. They nearly always offer better INR exchange rates and lower fees, so for the same amount of Canadian dollars you send, your recipient will receive more Indian rupees.
Of the companies we’ve compared, Remitly, Xe and Instarem are among the cheapest. Need a really fast transfer? Remitly, Xe, Instarem and MoneyGram can get money to your recipient in India within minutes.
Compare money transfer specialists
The best way to send money to India depends on your payment method, how you want your money to be received and how fast you need it to arrive.
The transfer above can take one to six business days.
The process above can be completed within minutes with cash pickup. Bank deposits can take a few business days, but for a popular country such as India, it can be much faster for a lot of the major banks, sometimes within a few minutes.
We visited several popular money transfer sites and received the following quotes for a $200 transfer to India. Keep in mind, this is a sample snapshot only to give you an idea of the best rates to send money to India. How much your recipient will actually get will depend on several factors, such as the exchange rate at the time, the amount you’re sending, payment and delivery method, and any special offers you use.
In this example, we aimed for the lowest fees possible, which typically involved paying by bank transfer and delivering the transfer to the recipient’s bank account, if available.
Provider | You send | Exchange rate per 1 CAD | Total fees | Recipient gets |
---|---|---|---|---|
Xe | $200 | 60.6234 | $0.00 | ₹12,124.68 |
Wise | $200 | 60.9678 | $3.34 | ₹11,989.93 |
Remitly | $200 | Without promo: 60.07 (Express), 60.68 (Economy) With promo: 61.25 (Express and Economy) | $1.99 | Without promo: ₹12,014 (Express), ₹12,136 (Economy) With promo: ₹12,250 |
Instarem | $200 | 60.5587 | $0.00 | ₹12,111.74 |
WorldRemit | $200 | 59.8691 | $0.00 | ₹11,974 |
Simplii | $200 | 59.873070 | $0.00 | ₹11,974.61 |
Western Union | $200 | Without promo: 60.1671 With promo: 61.1361 | Without promo: $1.99 With promo: $0.00 | Without promo: ₹12,033.42 With promo: ₹12,227.22 |
Xoom | $200 | 60.1863 | $0.00 | ₹12,037 |
Remitbee | $200 | With promo: 60.55 | With promo: $0.00 | With promo: ₹12,110 |
Provider | You send | Exchange rate per 1 CAD | Total fees | Recipient gets |
---|---|---|---|---|
Wise | $200 | 60.0399 | $2.93 | ₹11,832.06 |
Remitly | $200 | Without promo: 59.20 (Express), 59.80 (Economy) With promo: 60.36 (Express and Economy) | $1.99 | With promo: ₹12,072 |
Instarem | $200 | 59.6681 | $0.00 | ₹11,933.62 |
WorldRemit | $200 | 59.0152 | $0.00 | ₹11,803 |
Simplii | $200 | 58.986611 | $0.00 | ₹11,797.32 |
Western Union | $200 | 60.5282 | $0.00 | ₹12,105.64 |
Xoom | $200 | 59.5129 | $0.00 | ₹11,903 |
Remitbee | $200 | With promo: 60.00 | With promo: $0.00 | With promo: ₹12,000 |
The best international money transfer apps to send money to India will have a combination of easy user experience, affordable fees and fast transfer speeds. The providers below have highly rated apps for both Android and iOS. Based on recent reviews for 2023, we found that Remitly and WorldRemit received the most consistent positive feedback about their simplicity, low fees and speed.
Provider | App rating | Number of downloads | Positive feedback | Negative feedback |
---|---|---|---|---|
Xe | Android: 4.8 – ★★★★★ iOS: 4.8 – ★★★★★ | 10m+ | Easy to view rates | Difficulties with transfers going through |
WorldRemit | Android: 4.6 – ★★★★★ iOS: 4.8 – ★★★★★ | 5m+ | Low fees, quick and convenient, reliable | Long waits for customer service, technical difficulties |
Remitly | Android: 4.8 – ★★★★★ iOS: 4.9 – ★★★★★ | 10m+ | Easy to use, fast, low fees | Fee for Express and Economy service is the same, slower transfers |
Wise | Android: 4.7 – ★★★★★ iOS: 4.8 – ★★★★★ | 10m+ | Cheap, fast | Scheduling was hard to find, fees charged to transfer money to an account and to send it, technical difficulties |
Instarem | Android: 4.4 – ★★★★☆ iOS: 4.2 – ★★★★☆ | 100k+ | Easy and fast | Fees are not as competitive, technical difficulties |
MoneyGram | Android: 4.5 – ★★★★★ iOS: 4.8 – ★★★★★ | 1m+ | Fast and easy, attention to security, discount promos | Technical difficulties, not as easy to use |
OFX | Android: 4.5 – ★★★★★ iOS: 4.8 – ★★★★★ | 100k+ | Secure, excellent service, fast and easy, competitive fees | Technical difficulties, slower transactions/service |
Western Union | Android: 4.2 – ★★★★☆ iOS: 4.5 – ★★★★★ | 500k+ | Easy to use, fast transactions | Account cancelled suddenly, technical difficulties |
When you’re hunting down the cheapest ways or best rates to send money to India, look at the overall cost of your transfer. This has a couple of elements:
Some providers may charge the mid-market rate but add fees on top. Others may have very low fees but apply a markup on the exchange rate. This means it is important to compare exactly how many Indian rupees your recipient will end up with.
The safest way to get your money to India is to use a provider registered with Canada’s industry regulator, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. All of the companies we’ve compared in our table are overseen by a local regulator and comply with the relevant laws and regulations in both Canada and India.
A great way to dive deeper is by reading our extended reviews of each transfer service and researching first-hand customer feedback on Trustpilot and similar platforms.
If you need to make a sizable money transfer to India, consider using a provider such as RemitBee or OFX to benefit from its expertise in handling larger transfer amounts.
Using a large transfer specialist can have the following advantages:
To send money to India, you’ll need the necessary documentation, your recipient’s details and a way to pay.
Aaradhya is working in Canada as a doctor and she stays in regular contact with her elderly parents back home in India. Her parents need some funds to help pay off a mortgage, so Aaradhya plans to send them $2,000 from Canada.
She decides to compare a bank and a money transfer specialist to see which one can save the most money on her transaction.
Bank | Money transfer company | |
---|---|---|
Exchange rate | 1 CAD = 58.99 INR | 1 CAD = 59.77 INR |
Transfer fee | $10 | $2.50 |
Transfer method | Bank account deposit | Bank account deposit |
Processing time | 2 – 5 working days | Next day |
Amount received | 117,394.63 INR | 119,397.03 INR |
The money transfer company enables Aaradhya to send an extra ₹2,002.40, which is transferred straight to her parents’ HDFC Bank account.
When choosing a money transfer provider to send money from Canada to India, it’s important to consider the cost, how you want your recipient to receive the funds and the turnaround time. Here are other features to review:
Compared to a month ago, the Canadian dollar is weaker against the Indian rupee. Currently $5,000 is equivalent to ₹300,368.00, whereas a month ago, $5,000 was equivalent to ₹307,826.50. That’s a decrease of 2.42% over the past month.
Similarly, compared to a year ago, the Canadian dollar is again weaker against the Indian rupee. A year ago, $5,000 was equivalent to ₹303,443.50. That’s a decrease of 1.01% over 12 months.
What’s more important, however, is where the strength of the Canadian dollar against the Indian rupee goes from here – which is harder to call. Based on those two quick glances back, your Canadian dollars might not go as far as they would have, so shopping around for the best deal on your transfer is key.
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want to send money to india.
want to know which is the best and cheapest way to send.
like i have NRE account of punjab national bank.
Hi Kumar,
Thanks for your question.
You can compare the ways to send money to India by clicking here.
finder.com is a financial comparison website and as such we cannot provide specific banking advice. If you want advice specifically from your bank, we recommend getting in touch with Punjab National Bank.
I hope this helps,
Harry
my son in Australia wants to send money to me. what is the best way and how much it costs
Hi Alate,
Thanks for your question.
Please note that finder.com is an online comparison service and is not in a position to recommend specific products, providers and services.
The fee will depend on which service provider you choose. You can see these in the ‘online transfer fee’ column in our comparison tool.
Cheers,
Shirley
There are several other alternatives available. Some of them are Aussie Forex, GMT Money,PFG Money, Money Pigeon Pty Ltd etc.
These services may or may not charge a transfer fee but their exchange rates are way better than others.
I truly appreciate this post.