I wish to send a "good amount" of money ("good amount" for my standards) to India. Taking into consideration the exchange rate, transfer fee etc, could I get some good advice in this forum as to
1)which bank or organization would be the best in terms of low or no transfer fees. I, know for one, SBI does it for large amounts (But their exchange rate might not be great)
2)During this period of fluctuating dollar versus rupee, is it a good tiime to exchange dollar for the rupee.
As always I rely on my fellow FWers for their valuable advice. (I have to transfer money this month). TIA

Open up an NRI account with ICICI bank and you will be able to transfer money for free. I would not recommend doing wire transfer, due to silly hefty fees.

StinkPot said: Try doing a generic search and you will never get it.
I searched for "India" and that link came up, so you must not have searched.
Yes, this topic comes up quite often, some examples.
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=749870
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=721181
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=703435
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=694557
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=455428
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=305679
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=546055
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=617415
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=633484
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=489032
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=691711
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=192338
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=586256
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=446513
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=419223

/not linked for the lazy

*deleted*

thechakra said:one word "Hawala"

With free flow of exchange there is no hawala.

My suggestion is to study the difference between advice and advise. Proper English will take you far.

m2spatel said:Open up an NRI account with ICICI bank and you will be able to transfer money for free.

It is not free because ICICI gives much lower exchange rate than what you can get with other banks.

samirguru said:have you ever tried remit2india com.a timesofmoney service ? i am sure you will get better exchange rats according to current $ value.
Thanks for your valuable info. I will look into that

please do not send money out of the us at this time. we are in a resession and need to hold on to all money as possible.

StinkPot said:I wish to send a "good amount" of money ("good amount" for my standards) to India. Taking into consideration the exchange rate, transfer fee etc, could I get some good advice in this forum as to
1)which bank or organization would be the best in terms of low or no transfer fees. I, know for one, SBI does it for large amounts (But their exchange rate might not be great)
2)During this period of fluctuating dollar versus rupee, is it a good tiime to exchange dollar for the rupee.
As always I rely on my fellow FWers for their valuable advice. (I have to transfer money this month). TIA
Try remit2india online money transfer service which gives best exchange rates than any other online service offers also you can track your money online and transfer fees is also reasonable according to my experience of 14 transactions i am much satisfy by their customer support. some of my fellows are using other online transfer services which offers zero transfer fees first and after collect it as a tax ! i hope this will help you a lot after all its your hard earned money.

Here is a link for ease: www.remit2india.com