Remittances to Nepal, others...
By: Amit Bhushan Date:25th April 2015
Perhaps it's time for the Government to push the Indian Banks to step up the play not only for some assistance during calamity but also to help rebuilding. While RBI/SBI do have offerings on paper to support Nepalese citizens in India to remit money back home via NEFT, though it lacks awareness and quite a few under educated and ill informed Nepalese citizens still are pushed t rely on highly risky Courier services to send money back to their families. It may however work for those who may be want to transfer money from SBI to Nepal SBI though. Perhaps it’s time to publicize and promote services to even allow other banks to participate in the remittance corridor.
Besides it is also curious that despite Indian banks having stake in Nepalese banks as well as having a global network have done indeed very little to promote services like SBI Express (presently for remitting money from select foreign locales to India) to their associated institutions in Nepal. The Nepalese diasporas in these countries may only add to the clientele of Indian banks, if these services are extended and the bank’s franchise becomes more reliable. However, banks in India are not seen to be ready to walk this extra mile. These diasporas have been left at the mercy of much more expensive providers for the reasons best known to the mandarins at these Indian banks despite of the fact that they are already maintaining network on both sides which could have been leveraged to do some additional business. Success with servicing the Nepalese diasporas could have also led to the Indian Banking sector credibility to launch services for perhaps much more lucrative Bangladeshi or CLMV diasporas but it seems that Indian banks are not game for such opportunities.
By: Amit Bhushan Date:25th April 2015
Perhaps it's time for the Government to push the Indian Banks to step up the play not only for some assistance during calamity but also to help rebuilding. While RBI/SBI do have offerings on paper to support Nepalese citizens in India to remit money back home via NEFT, though it lacks awareness and quite a few under educated and ill informed Nepalese citizens still are pushed t rely on highly risky Courier services to send money back to their families. It may however work for those who may be want to transfer money from SBI to Nepal SBI though. Perhaps it’s time to publicize and promote services to even allow other banks to participate in the remittance corridor.
Besides it is also curious that despite Indian banks having stake in Nepalese banks as well as having a global network have done indeed very little to promote services like SBI Express (presently for remitting money from select foreign locales to India) to their associated institutions in Nepal. The Nepalese diasporas in these countries may only add to the clientele of Indian banks, if these services are extended and the bank’s franchise becomes more reliable. However, banks in India are not seen to be ready to walk this extra mile. These diasporas have been left at the mercy of much more expensive providers for the reasons best known to the mandarins at these Indian banks despite of the fact that they are already maintaining network on both sides which could have been leveraged to do some additional business. Success with servicing the Nepalese diasporas could have also led to the Indian Banking sector credibility to launch services for perhaps much more lucrative Bangladeshi or CLMV diasporas but it seems that Indian banks are not game for such opportunities.