If you work in the UK and have family back home in India, you will most certainly need an NRI account for smooth money transfers and depositing your UK/Indian income. Read this post to know five tips that can help you pick the best bank for your NRI account.
With the number of Indians moving to foreign lands like the UK rising consistently, several banks in India now offer a host of benefits on NRI bank accounts. With the help of such accounts, Indian expats in the UK can experience a host of benefits such as the easy movement of funds, tax benefits, and more.
But how will you select a top bank for your NRI account? Here are 5 points that can help you make the decision-
- Types of Accounts Available
To better meet the needs of NRIs, banks nowadays offer many different types of NRI accounts. For instance, there are now NRO and NRE savings account. With an NRO account, you can deposit your Indian as well as foreign earnings and withdraw the same in INR.
You can open an NRE savings account if you only want to deposit your UK earnings and withdraw the same in INR. Similarly, there are now exclusive Fixed Deposit (FD) accounts available for NRIs. Select a bank that offers many different types of NRI bank accounts so that you can pick an account that best meets your requirements.
- Interest Income
The savings account, as well as FD account for NRIs, allows you to earn handsome returns in the form of interest payment.
If you plan to park your funds for a considerable duration in your NRI savings account or want to open an NRI FD account, give due attention to the interest rate offered by the bank. Prefer a reputed bank that provides a high rate of interest.
- Money Transfer Service
The NRI bank account should also allow you to send funds to recipients in India seamlessly. Make sure that you check the list of beneficiary banks to which you can send money from your NRI account.
Several banks only allow NRI customers to send funds to a few selected banks in India. You should prefer a bank that will enable you to send funds to any bank account throughout the country quickly.
- Online Account Opening
Some of the top banks in India now also offer online account opening facility. If you are already in UK, you can make use of this facility.
With online account opening, you will be required to fill an online form and upload the required documents along with the scanned image of your photograph and signature.
- Additional Services
Apart from basic advantages such as lower minimum balance requirement and tax benefits, banks now offer a host of additional services with NRI banking. For instance, a large number of NRIs invest in real estate in India.
There are now banks that offer professional property advisory services to NRIs wanting to benefit from the booming real estate industry in India. Select a bank that offers such additional facilities as they prove very beneficial.
Making the Decision
If you are looking for a bank to open an NRI account, the points discussed above are sure to make the decision easier. The banking services for NRIs have come a long way in India, and you should take maximum advantage of the offerings by selecting a trustworthy and reputed bank.
