Are you searching for an App that can digitally transfer money to your friends or relatives accounts in a fraction of seconds and also without stepping out from your home? If so, then this article might help you to select a free money transfer app so that you can securely and digitally transfer money to anyone you want, both domestically and internationally.

Selecting a payment app or money transfer app in India is not a very hard task today, you might find hundreds of such apps in the Play Store or iOS App store, some of these are excellent, some are Good and some of them might be fake. In this article, I will try to cover the pros and cons of some popular & best money transfer apps in India available both in the Play Store and App Store. I have included both the International and Domestic money transfer Apps, below you will find the list of such apps for sending money within India, and from India to abroad and vice-versa.

Before getting into the list of such money transfer Apps, let us have some brief ideas about different methods of digital money transfer in India.

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Different methods of money transfer in India

Best Money Transfer Apps in India

Which Money Transfer App should you select?

Different methods of money transfer in India

There are several ways you can transfer money between the two different bank account or mobile wallet. The bank account or mobile wallet may be from the same or different providers. These types of money transfer are called Electronic Fund Transfer (ETF). Here, I will specifically discuss what are the digital or electronic modes of the money transfer process in India.

NEFT/RTGS: National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) is the oldest method of digital payments first introduced in the banking industries. Though there is no upper limit of money transfer in NEFT or RTGS, though the different banks may set an upper limit of NEFT. The minimum transfer amount of RTGS is Rs.2.00 Lacs.

The main difference between NEFT and RTGS is in timing and settlement time. RTGS is available between 7 AM to 6 PM and only available on working days, not available in banking holidays. The settlement time of RTGS is in Real-Time, the amount may credit to the beneficiary account within 30 minutes.

NEFT is available on a 24*7 basis and all days in a year. NEFT is a deferred type of settlement ie a batch of NEFT transaction executed after a certain time interval at RBI, therefore the time required for settlement NEFT is between 2 to 3 hours.

You can process NEFT/RTGS yourself to transfer money to another bank account digitally using the mobile banking app or bank’s internet banking portal. IFSC Code and Bank Account number are required for NEFT/RTGS.

IMPS: IMPS or Immediate Payment Service launched by NPCI and available on a 24*7 basis throughout the year. IMPS requires the beneficiary’s MMID and mobile number or IFSC code and Account number and the money will be settled in real-time to the beneficiary account. A maximum of Rs.2.00 lacs can be transferred using this process.
Unified Payment Interface (UPI): This is the most innovative and robust money transfer process developed by NPCI where money can be settled in real-time. It does not require any MMID or Account Number, only you need a VPA id to transfer money to another account in a fraction of time. All the latest popular payment apps integrate the UPI platform to send and receive money between the accounts. All you need is a bank account linked with a mobile number and a VPA id. I have written a detailed article on top UPI Apps and how UPI works. You can read the article here
Details comparison of top UPI Apps in India

Now, back to the main article, what are the best money transfer apps available in India

Best Money Transfer Apps in India

The digital payment methods is not a new concept in India, more and more people are now using this digital method of money transfer. The UPI transaction has already crossed 10B marks at the end of 2019.

All the money transfer apps available in the iOS or Play Store integrates the UPI platform to send or receive money.

#1. PayPal:

PayPal is one of the oldest and most popular international money transfer solution in the world, used by millions of freelancers to receive their payments online. PayPal is the number one Peer-2-Peer fund transfer app in the World and starts operating in India for the last couple of years. You can create a free PayPal Account and link any Indian Bank’s Debit Card to PayPal, even you can add RuPay Card to your PayPal Account. Although PayPal is not the cheapest option to transfer funds, it charges 2.5% of the transaction amount + Rs.3. You can send or receive a maximum of $10000 as per RBI guidelines.

Please remember that PayPal is meant for international fund transfer only, you can not send or receive money to any Indian PayPal Account using PayPal.

Now, coming to the App, the interface of the PayPal App is very simple, you will find only two options “Send” and “Request” at the bottom of the App. You can send money to any Email ID using the mobile App, although the receiver email id must be linked to PayPal Account. Similarly, you can request money to any email id or sharing the PayPal.me/YourName (Your personalized PayPal Link) to the sender of money through email, Whatsapp, or any other means. PayPal now operates in more than 202 countries.

In India, PayPal has now tied up with several popular eCommerce websites as a payment gateway provider. The app has very excellent users rating both in iOS and Android versions.

Pros:

Very simple interface.
Bit lengthy login process, I have made a detailed article on that.
Easy to send or receive money from any international location

Cons:

Charges are very high.
Only an international money transfer is possible. Money can not be transferred between two Indian PayPal Account.

App Category: International Money Transfer App

Sign Up for Free PayPal Account

Download PayPal for Android and iOS.

#2. Google Pay

No KYC, No wallet, Google Pay simply the most innovative & best money transfer App offers by Google to Indian customers. The Google Pay App (formerly known as Tez) is probably the number one payment app in India now, uses the UPI platform to send money between the UPI linked bank account. The app has the largest share of UPI transaction volume with more than 6.8 crores monthly active users. The most notable part of this app is its unique Rewards System, i.e Scratch Card for every transaction. You can earn rewards or Cashback by scratching a virtual card. This system of Rewards was first introduced by Google Pay, later adopted by several other payment Apps.

Google Pay has the three options of money transfer, direct bank transfer using IFSC Code & account number, transfer to Mobile Number using MMID and transfer to Virtual Payment Address or VPA id & QR Code. Google Pay app’s payment system is built on the UPI platform and 4 PSP banks provide the VPA service. You can initiate a new transaction by tapping the NEW option.

Google Pay or Tez and Google Pay is not the same app, Google Pay’s India version is meant for domestic fund transfer only and Google Pay US version does not work in India. Google Pay (India) does not have the NFC option enabled, it uses Audio QR technology to communicate with the nearby devices. To initiate the nearby payment or receive money, you have to tap the Tez option.

Everything of this app is excellent, but one problem I have faced several times in the iOS version is that the app asked for fresh UPI activation, whenever the app updates.

Pros:

No KYC required, anyone can use this app, only need UPI linked bank account.
Direct bank debit from the linked bank account.
Unique Rewards system. Cashback directly credited to the bank account.
Easy to use interface, fast fund transfer. Option to send money even someone doesn’t have VPA id.
Secure Touch ID finger-print enabled login for iOS and PIN or Pattern-based login for android devices.
Many other useful payment options.

Cons:

Frequent network problems failed to communicate with the bank server on several occasions.
Sometimes the App activation is required whenever the App updates, especially in the iOS version.
No international transfer option for the Indian version of App.

App Category: Domestic Money Transfer App.

Download Google Pay.

#3. Transferwise:

Transferwise is another excellent low cost online international money transfer app available both in iOS and Android users. The App has an excellent user rating both for iOS and Android versions. You can send up to $10000 per transaction or equivalent INR for Education Purposes, for other purposes, you can send $5000 and a maximum cap of $250000 per calendar year. You can send INR to any bank account abroad and it usually takes 1 day to credit in recipient local bank account.

Compare to PayPal, Transferwise fees are much cheaper and straight forward. Transferwise does have any Bank Transfer fees, it charges a commission from Currency Conversion for money transfer from India to abroad. For details on the Transferwise pricing model, you can visit here.

You can sign in to Transferwise mobile app using the existing Apple id or Google id and create the new Trasnferwise Account selecting the Account option. There are two types of Account option, one is Personal Account and another is Business Account for Freelancers and Bloggers. At the send option, you can convert the INR to different currencies and can check what amount the recipient will get. For sending money outside the US, you need the SWIFT code which takes around 2-5 days to settle.

Transferwise is an ideal app for personal purposes as well as smaller business entities like bloggers and freelancers for international money transfer.

Transferwise is a very Safe app and you need a Bank account to transfer funds abroad.

Pros:

Low cost, faster and secure, ideal for small value transfers.
No hidden cost, cheaper than PayPal, ideal for bloggers and freelancers.
Smooth App interface, login protected by Touch ID.

Cons:

Not suitable for high-value business transfer.
Operates in a limited number of countries. You can send or receive money from Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Euro Zone Countries, and the US.

App Category: International Money Transfer App

Sign Up for Transferwise. (You will get Fee-Free Transfer up to INR 25000)

#4. PhonePe

PhonePe is another very popular money transfer app launched by Gurugram based Indian start-up in 2016. The app has a very smooth UI with multiple fund transfer option. It is probably the fastest money transfer app in India.

PhonePe is a semi-closed type eWallet cum Payment App and requires the basic KYC documents to operate as per RBI guidelines. It uses the UPI platform to send money between the bank account. The App has a similar money transfer option as Google Pay. You can send money to any mobile number of your contact, direct bank account using IFSC Code, and UPI & QR code transfer. The money will directly debit from your UPI linked bank account after authenticating the transaction by UPI PIN.

PhonePe is one of the top three payment apps in India and growing very rapidly in the Indian UPI market. PhonePe is not only a money transfer app, but it also has numerous other payment options like Credit Card Bill Payment, Utility Bill payment, Digital Wallet Service, FastTag Recharge, Municipality Tax payment, etc.

Pros:

Smooth & easy to navigate interface, money can be transferred in a fraction of second.
Several other useful payment options.
The Amount directly debited from the bank account.
Secure Touch ID enabled login for iOS and Android users.
Various offers & discount programs.

Cons:

No international money transfer option available.

Download PhonePe App.

#5. Paytm

Paytm is the most popular & oldest payment app in India. Paytm has pioneered the digital payment concept in India. Most of the smartphone users in India have this app installed on their phone. The company has recently launched its Payment Bank in India. Paytm has also maintained the largest chunk of the QR code-based payment business in India. You can find the Paytm QR Code in almost all retail outlets in India.

Like other domestic money transfer app, Paytm has also integrated the BHIM UPI platform to send money to other UPI linked bank account. You can start a new transaction by selecting the UPI money transfer option which is placed at the top of the screen. No KYC is required for UPI money transfer.

Pros:

Most downloaded Payment app with tons of features.
Offers & Cashback.
3 Layered Security system to prevent fraudulent transactions.

Cons:

So many features clustered in a single app, the navigation of the app bit complicated.
No international fund transfer.

App Category: Domestic Money Transfer App

Download Paytm App

#6. InstaReM

InstaReM is a Singapore based Fintech company, provides low-cost overseas money transfer services across the world. InstaReM is a cost-effective international remittance App, provides Zero-margin Forex Rates to expatriates, businessmen, and the students for fast, convenient digital money transfer across the border. You can send money from the US or UK to India, the money will directly deposit to any local bank account. The receiver does have to pay any charges. InstaReM usually takes 1-2 days once the sender confirms the transfer.

Similarly, you can send money abroad like US or UK from India using the InstaReM App. You can Sign Up the InstaReM app using your existing Google or Facebook id. Once Sign Up, you have to Add Recipient personal information and bank details by clicking the Recipient Tab. You can make payment through InstaReM App only from Personal Resident Indian Savings Account.

Similar to Transferwise App, you can send a maximum of $5000 to abroad for any reason other than educational purposes. For educational purposes, you can send $10000 at a time and $25000 in a calendar year.

InstaReM is a complete Safe App for sending money abroad.

Pros:

Offer Zero-margin FX rates.
Low transfer fees and No hidden charges.
Send money from India to abroad.

Cons:

InstaReM usually takes a longer time for settlement than Transferwise.
Not suitable for high-value money transfer.
The availability of the country is limited.

App Category: International Money Transfer App

Download InstaReM for Android & iOS.

Which Money Transfer App should you select?

Above, in this article, I have listed the best money transfer apps available in India, both for sending money within India or any overseas countries. All the domestic money transfer apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, or BHIM use the UPI platform for sending money to UPI linked bank account. Therefore, all these payment apps are the same, the difference in its Rewards systems. You can install all these apps on your mobile and look for the notification which apps give better offers & discounts programs on money transfer.

Now, for Overseas Money Transfer Apps, Transferwise and InstaReM offer low transaction fees for overseas money transfer than PayPal, but these Apps have limited reach. PayPal has acceptance in 202 countries in the Worlds and bulk money transfer services for Business Account. The sign-up process of PayPal is a bit complicated but sending and receiving money through the PayPal app is very easy and convenient. Therefore, it all depends on you what is your requirements.

So, what is your recommendation? Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts below.

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