Instant Messaging, Instant Delivery and now Instant Money Transfers

Swati, like many others, had migrated to Australia a few months back. Obviously, it was a very different environment compared to back home in India but with the help of her friends and colleagues, she was able to settle in very quickly.

And she is not alone. Every year, close to 40,000 Indians make Australia their home helping contribute to the local economy and making a mark for themselves. A combination of a great work environment and a strong community presence make life a lot easier for people like her.

What’s made life easier for people like Swati and her folks now is the instant connectivity available. Be it instant messaging and video chats or sending gifts and managing nancial transactions for their folks, the internet has helped bridge the physical gap to a large extent.

It’s now only logical that the bene ts of this instant connectivity are extended to one of the core needs of sending money back home. According to the World Bank, Indians send close to $1.8 billion annually from Australia and historically, have had to settle for options that were either painstakingly time-consuming or prohibitively expensive. There was no option, which combined the speed of delivery at a very competitive price.

This too has changed now with online services available that help send money to India in a quick & transparent manner. One such service is Remit2India that’s been catering to the needs of Non-Resident Indians across the globe for over 16 years. Their proposition for Indians in Australia is one of the best as it offers an instant transfer to most bank accounts in India and currently at no fees to the sender. This facility is available 24x7 irrespective of time zones and bank holidays at both ends up to a maximum transaction size of Rs 1,00,000. More details are available on the website www.remit2india.com and the iOS & Android apps. Moreover, it gives the advantage to the sender of locking in the rates at the time of the transfer without having to be exposed to the vagaries of the forex markets. Remit2India is also currently running a special limited period offer of a guaranteed A$35 Coles voucher for our life easy and comfortable. ter the film screening, a ery interesting Q and A session followed for the younger members of the audience - there were prizes in store! A tree plantation drive in the garden area seemed but a natural extension of what they had seen and learnt.

The seventh Sikh guru Sri Guru Har Rai Sahib (1630 - 1661) was a nature lover and a great environmentalist. He was instrumental in developing Kiratpur Sahib as a town of gardens, setting up a herbarium (medicinal herb garden) known as Naulakha Bagh which had rarest of the rare herbs.

EcoSikhs is a mission which brings together Sikh values, beliefs and the most important environmental issues that our world is facing today. The organisation has done wonderful work in Amritsar India, turning public gardens into zero waste places, planting more than 100 banyans for Earth Day 2015, and cleaning the roads after city processions.

Puneet Anand

every new customer in order to induce senders to try the online option.

So now, within 30 seconds of Swati sending money to her parents’ account in India, she gets a WhatsApp message from them con rming the receipt. Also, her next month’s grocery shopping has been taken care of, thanks to the free Coles voucher.

Indians in Australia are surely getting the best of both worlds.