Sending money from Australia to India: the payments stack
Sending AUD 200 from Australia to India cost 6.15% of the amount on average in Q3 2025, across 36 services in the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide survey. Payouts in India typically run over UPI (Unified Payments Interface), IMPS (Immediate Payment Service); between now and the end of 2027 there are 6 weekdays when banks in Australia are closed but India keeps paying out, so the payout balance has to be funded before them.
| Average cost to send | 6.15% of AUD 200 (Q3 2025, World Bank RPW) source |
| Money transfer operators | 2.56% across 22 services |
| Banks | 11.8% across 14 services |
| Collect in Australia | NPP (Osko, PayID, PayTo), RITS Fast Settlement Service, RITS (RTGS), Direct entry (BECS) |
| Pay out in India | UPI (Unified Payments Interface), IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer), RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) |
What it costs to send AUD 200
The World Bank surveyed 36 services sending from Australia to India from 15 August 2025 to 10 September 2025. The average total cost, fees plus the FX margin, was 6.15% of the amount sent; money transfer operators averaged 2.56% and banks 11.8%. source
Bank and operator averages are worked out from the survey's provider types.
The send side: Australia
- Remittance service providers and virtual asset service providers must both enrol with AUSTRAC and apply for registration through AUSTRAC Online, and cannot start providing remittance or virtual asset services until AUSTRAC approves the registration. source
- AUSTRAC registers independent remittance dealers, remittance network providers, remittance network provider affiliates and virtual asset service providers; AUSTRAC can take up to 90 days to assess an application, and the 90 days restart when it asks for more information. source
- Registration lasts 3 years; a renewal can be lodged from 90 days before expiry, and a registration that is not renewed lapses and is removed from the register. source
Licences, sponsor banks, collections, ramps and KYC providers: sending from Australia.
The payout side: India
| Payout partner | What it does in India | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Nium · our guide | Pays INR to all banks in India, choosing IMPS (24x7, up to INR 500,000), RTGS (18:00 IST cut-off) or NEFT in that order, plus UPI proxy and Visa Direct; trade transactions are capped at INR 1.5 million. | source |
| Thunes · our guide | Offers bank account payouts across India with real-time processing for C2C, B2C and C2B flows, B2B payments on a T+1 basis, and cash pickup. | source |
| dLocal · our guide | Supports payouts in India by bank transfer (IFSC) and by UPI to a virtual payment address, in INR or USD, for B2B, B2C and P2P flows. | source |
| TerraPay · our guide | Provides local-currency payouts in India through its global payments network, and in February 2026 partnered with Raenest to pay freelancers in India and the Philippines. | source |
| Razorpay | Holds RBI's Payment Aggregator Cross Border (PA-CB) licence, which lets it collect inward and process outward cross-border payments for Indian merchants such as exporters and SaaS firms; PA-CB covers merchant transactions, not payouts to individuals. | source |
| Cashfree Payments | Received RBI's PA-CB licence and lets Indian businesses collect from abroad in 140+ currencies by card and through local USD, EUR, CAD and GBP accounts; PA-CB covers merchant collections, not payouts to individuals. | source |
Licensing, local banks, stablecoin ramps, FX and KYC in India: launching payments in India.
Payout rails in India
| Rail | Operator | What matters for payouts | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPI (Unified Payments Interface) | National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) | Available round the clock; carried 85.5% of India's payment volume in July to December 2025. Payouts go to a virtual payment address linked to a bank account. | source |
| IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) | National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) | Instant transfers 24x7, including holidays, up to Rs 5 lakh per transaction on all channels except SMS and IVR. | source |
| NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer) | Reserve Bank of India | Runs 24x7 on every day of the year, settling in half-hourly batches; RBI sets no minimum or maximum amount, though member banks may set their own limits. RTGS, the high-value system, has a Rs 2 lakh minimum and no upper limit. | source |
| RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) | Reserve Bank of India | Has run 24x7 since 00:30 on 14 December 2020, about a year after NEFT moved to round-the-clock operation. | source |
Holiday gaps to plan for, to December 2027
Weekdays when one side of the corridor is closed. On the 6 dates when Australia is closed and India is open, the payout balance has to already hold enough to cover them. On the 10 dates when India is closed, instant rails may still pay out.
| Date | Australia | India | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 24 Nov 2026 | Open | Guru Nanak's Birthday | India banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Fri 25 Dec 2026 | Christmas Day | Christmas Day | Both closed |
| Mon 28 Dec 2026 | Additional day for Boxing Day | Open | Prefund India the day before: no funding from Australia, payouts continue |
| Fri 1 Jan 2027 | New Year's Day | Open | Prefund India the day before: no funding from Australia, payouts continue |
| Tue 26 Jan 2027 | Australia Day | Republic Day | Both closed |
| Wed 10 Mar 2027 | Open | Id-ul-Fitr | India banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Tue 23 Mar 2027 | Open | Holi | India banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Fri 26 Mar 2027 | Good Friday | Good Friday | Both closed |
| Mon 29 Mar 2027 | Easter Monday | Open | Prefund India the day before: no funding from Australia, payouts continue |
| Thu 15 Apr 2027 | Open | Ram Navami | India banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 19 Apr 2027 | Open | Mahavir Jayanti | India banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 17 May 2027 | Open | Id-ul-Zuha (Bakrid) | India banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Thu 20 May 2027 | Open | Buddha Purnima | India banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 14 Jun 2027 | King's Birthday | Open | Prefund India the day before: no funding from Australia, payouts continue |
| Wed 16 Jun 2027 | Open | Muharram | India banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Wed 25 Aug 2027 | Open | Janmashtami (Vaishnav) | India banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Fri 29 Oct 2027 | Open | Diwali (Deepavali) | India banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 27 Dec 2027 | Additional day for Christmas Day | Open | Prefund India the day before: no funding from Australia, payouts continue |
| Tue 28 Dec 2027 | Additional day for Boxing Day | Open | Prefund India the day before: no funding from Australia, payouts continue |
Full calendars: Australia and India. Size the buffer with the corridor runway calculator.
Funding the corridor
- NPP payments settle in the Fast Settlement Service 24 hours a day on every day of the year, so AUD collections can arrive on weekends and holidays. source
- All other RITS settlement runs only on days when banks are open in Sydney or Melbourne, from 7:30 am to 10:00 pm AEST/AEDT, and closes on weekends and on New Year's Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, the King's Birthday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day where observed in NSW and Victoria. source
- RBI's onshore FCY/INR market hours are 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. IST; dealing outside them depends on an AD Category-I bank choosing to quote, so rupees for night, weekend and holiday payouts have to be bought in advance unless a bank quotes outside those hours. source
- RDA Vostro accounts run on a credit basis with no overdrafts, and banks credit rupees only after the foreign currency reaches their nostro account. Under the Speed Remittance Procedure exchange houses ordinarily prefund through the bank's nostro account before sending payment instructions, and banks set their own collateral policy; under DDA and non-DDA arrangements banks may take collateral of 7 days' projected drawings from exchange houses with under three years of operation. source
- MTSS Overseas Principals keep collateral with a designated Indian bank equal to 3 days' average drawings or US$50,000, whichever is higher; the first US$50,000 is a foreign currency deposit and the rest can be a bank guarantee, reviewed quarterly. source
Running the corridor
Polynopsis shows every balance on both sides of this corridor in one live position: the collection accounts in Australia, the payout partners and banks in India and any stablecoin in between. It warns before the India balance runs dry, holidays included. See how it works.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to send money from Australia to India?
The World Bank's survey put the average total cost of sending AUD 200 at 6.15% in Q3 2025, across 36 services. Money transfer operators averaged 2.56%.
Which rails pay out in India?
Local payouts run over UPI (Unified Payments Interface), IMPS (Immediate Payment Service), NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer), RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement).
When do I need to prefund India payouts ahead of holidays?
Between now and December 2027 there are 6 weekdays when Australia is closed and India is open, the first on Mon 28 Dec 2026. The payout balance has to cover those days before they start.
Related corridors
Sources
- World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide dataset · World Bank
- RITS Business Hours · Reserve Bank of Australia
- Public and Bank Holidays 2026 · Reserve Bank of Australia
- Holidays (holiday matrix under the NI Act) · Reserve Bank of India
- RBI announces date for launching of RTGS 24x7 · Reserve Bank of India
Know where all your money is.
Polynopsis gives cross-border payment teams one live position across every bank, payout partner, exchange and wallet, including money in flight, and warns before a corridor runs dry.
About Polynopsis
Polynopsis is liquidity management software for cross-border payment companies. The name joins poly, many, and synopsis, a seeing together: one live view of money spread across many banks, payout partners, exchanges and stablecoin wallets, including money in flight, with a warning before any corridor runs dry.
Why it is called Polynopsis · About Polynopsis · Glossary · Corridor runway calculator