Best NRE/NRO Rupee Accounts in India

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Here's how to make your hard earned dollars/pounds/euros work harder for you. Find the best NRE/NRO savings/checking account from the following comparison.

note Learn more about NRE, NRO, RFC, FCNR savings and term deposit accounts.

Interest rates offered by all banks are more or less similar, so the real differentiator is the minimum balance requirement, cost of features and the money transfer charges, which are covered in our remittance charges comparison page.

Axis Bank: Normal and Prime Savings
  • Minimum balance (MB):
       Rs 5,000 (Normal), Rs 25,000 (Prime)
  • Interest on balance (IB): 3.5%
  • International debit card (IC):
       Issue fee: Rs 95 (Normal), Free (Prime)
       Annual fee: Rs 100 (Normal), Nil (Prime)
  • Bill pay (BP):
  • Features (FR):
       Online banking, cheque books,
       ATM card
  • Money transfer (MT):
    Wire Transfers

MB rank 5
IB rank 4
IC rank 4
BP rank 0
FR rank 3
MT rank 3

Citibank: Checking† (Savings)

MB rank 2
IB rank 4
IC rank 5
BP rank 5
FR rank 3
MT rank 3

HDFC Bank: Checking
  • Minimum balance‡ (MB):
       Rs 25,000 (penalty Rs 750 per quarter)
  • Interest on balance (IB): 0%
  • International debit card (IC):
       Issue fee: Rs 100
       Annual fee: Rs 100
  • Bill pay (BP): Rs 25 (plus taxes) per quarter
  • Features (FR):
       Online banking, phone banking,
       cheque books, ATM card
  • Money transfer (MT):
    Wire Transfer, Online Demand Drafts

MB rank 3
IB rank 0
IC rank 3
BP rank 3
FR rank 4
MT rank 3

HSBC: Rupee Checking and Savings
  • Minimum balance‡ (MB):
       NRE Checking: Rs 25,000, NRE Savings: Rs 25,000
       NRO Checking: Rs 25,000, NRO Savings: Rs 10,000
  • Interest on balance (IB):
       3.5% (NRE), 2.6% (NRO)
  • International debit card (IC):
       Issue fee: Nil
       Annual fee: Rs 100
  • Bill pay (BP):
  • Features (FR):
       Online banking, phone banking
  • Money transfer (MT):
    Wire Transfer, Online Demand Drafts

MB rank 3
IB rank 4
IC rank 4
BP rank 0
FR rank 2
MT rank 3

ICICI Bank: Rupee Savings
  • Minimum balance‡ (MB):
       Rs 15,000 (penalty Rs 750 per quarter)
  • Interest on balance (IB): 3.5%
  • International debit card (IC):
       Issue fee: Rs 100
       Annual fee: Rs 199 per year
  • Bill pay (BP):
  • Features (FR):
       Online banking, phone banking
  • Money transfer (MT):
    Wire Transfer, Online Demand Drafts

MB rank 3
IB rank 4
IC rank 2
BP rank 0
FR rank 2
MT rank 3

State Bank of India: Rupee Savings
  • Minimum balance (MB):
       Rs 1,000 (Rs 5,000 at Personal Banking Branches)
  • Interest on balance (IB): 3.5%
  • International debit card (IC):
       Issue fee:
       Annual fee:
  • Bill pay (BP):
  • Features (FR):
       Online banking
  • Money transfer (MT):
    Wire Transfer, Online Demand Drafts

MB rank 5
IB rank 4
IC rank 0
BP rank 0
FR rank 1
MT rank 3

† account with Savings features
‡ average quarterly balance

Learn more about SWIFT BIC, IBAN and RTGS.