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Western Union USD to INR rate

Sending Dollar to Rupee With Western Union's USD to INR Exchange Rate (Is It Cheap?)

Feb 17, 2023
Advertiser disclosure

Western Union is one of the most prominent money transfer services globally, and a trusted and popular method to transfer money from the United States to India. You can use a bank transfer, credit or debit card, or pay-in-cash option to transfer up to $50,000 American dollars to Indian Rupees for currency conversion in one go. The funds can be transferred to the recipient's bank account or picked up in cash.

However, the USD to INR exchange rate that they apply on your transfer will be marked up. In fact, Western Union was a reasonable option on less than 0.5% of searches on Monito for transfers from the United States to India. This is why we highly recommend you use our comparison engine below to find the best Western Union alternative for USD to INR rates👇

Compare Western Union's USD to INR exchange rate with other providers:

Key Facts About the Western Union USD to INR Rate

🇮🇳 USD to INR Rates

Cheapest for under 0.5% of USD-INR Monito comparisons in 2022

🌎 Currencies supported

Over 150 countries

⭐ Customer Reviews

2.6/5 stars from over 18 thousand reviews on Trustpilot

📩 Delivery Methods

Bank transfer, cash pick-up, mobile wallet, cash delivery

💵 Transfer Fee

$0.00 to $61.00

📈 Exchange Rate Markup

Varies from 0.4% to 7%+

Overview of Sending Money to India From the United States With Western Union

Western Union is one of the world's largest and most well-known money transfer services, operating in over 200 countries and territories and offering services in 150 currencies. They are a trusted and popular method for sending money from the United States to India, with the ability to transfer up to $50,000 USD to Indian Rupee for currency conversion in a single transaction.

Western Union is regulated under various authorities, including:

  • Registered Money Services Business with US Department of Treasury;
  • Licensed as a money transmitter in the US;
  • Regulated in the UK and Ireland (for the EU);
  • Registered with FINTRAC in Canada.

Western Union offers four money transfer methods: bank transfer, credit or debit card, pay-in-cash, and cash pick-up options. With the bank transfer option, you can have funds transferred directly into the recipient's bank account, while the credit or debit card option allows for instant transfers using a card. The pay-in-cash option allows you to pay for the transfer in person at a Western Union agent location, and the cash pick-up option allows the recipient to pick up the funds at a nearby agent location.

To learn more about the company, read our in-depth Western Union review.

What Monito Likes About Western Union

  • By far the largest money transfer company on the globe;
  • An enormous network of cash pickup locations globally;
  • A variety of pay-in options are available.

What Monito Dislikes About Western Union

  • Cheap on under 0.5% of USD to INR comparisons on Monito in 2022;
  • Around 90% of fees are hidden away in nontransparent margins;
  • Seldom the cheapest service for online bank transfers.

Fees for Dollar to Rupee Transfers With Western Union

Western Union applies a service fee to their money transfer service, which can differ based on the location of the sender, the amount being sent, the recipient's location, and the method of sending. Their fee schedule can be quite complex.

For example, Western Union's mobile app, website, brick-and-mortar stores, and phone service each have different fees for sending $1,000 USD from the United States.

Western Union Fee Table From the USA

Let's have a look at the chart below to learn more about Western Union's fees from the United States to India.

Data quoted 16 Jan 2023

It's important to note that the fee schedule may be subject to change if you are not sending money from the United States.

Western Union USD to INR Rate

When sending your money to India from the US, Western Union applies an exchange rate that is weaker than the market rate. Western Union will pocket this difference, also known as an exchange rate margin.

Western Union Exchange Rate For Dollar to Indian Rupees

Let's look at an example of a transfer from the US to India to understand how Western Union's exchange rates work. On February 16th at 0900 CEST, we used Western Union's online price estimator to find their exchange rates for an in-store transfer. For every one US dollar that you transfer with Western Union, your recipient in India would receive 78.60 Indian rupees.

  • Western Union's Exchange Rate: 1.00USD = 78.60 INR

However, the mid-market exchange rate at the same date and time was 82.69 rupees for one US dollar. This means that Western Union marked up the exchange rate by 4.95% for this transaction. In other tests, Western Union applied around 7% margins on US dollar to Indian rupee transfers.

  • Mid-Market Exchange Rate: 1.00 USD = 82.69 INR

Although this is not as high as airport kiosks (which mark up 9% or more), it's not the best option available. You can use Monito's live comparison engine to find other services with lower markups, usually around 0% to 1%:

Compare Western Union's USD to INR exchange rate:

How To Send Money to India From the USA With Western Union

  • Step 01

    Start your transfer

    1. If you're a first-time user, click "Sign Up" to create a Western Union account. Otherwise, click "Log In".
    2. Fill out your basic information and click "Continue".
    3. Enter the "PIN" that you received via email and click "Continue".
  • Step 02

    Choose your delivery method

    1. Select the country you're sending to, enter the amount you want to send, and check the transfer fees.
    2. Click "Continue".
  • Step 03

    Choose how you'd like to pay

    1. Provide the recipient's basic information and payment details, and click "Continue".
    2. Select the bank name for payment and click "Continue".
  • Final step

    Confirm the transfer

    1. Review and confirm the sending details, receiving details, payment details, delivery time, and transfer summary.
    2. Click "Send Money" when you are ready.
    Try Remitly Instead ❯

Compare Western Union USD to INR Rates With Top Remittance Services

While Western Union remains one of the largest global money transfer networks, many newer companies offer more transparent and cost-effective methods to send money internationally.

At Monito, we have extensively reviewed and compared hundreds of these services. Our live comparison engine allows users to compare exchange rates and transfer fees in real time. Based on millions of searches, Remitly was found to be the most cost-effective provider for transferring money from the USA to India in 32% of comparisons in 2022, followed by XE Money Transfer at 29% and Panda Remit at 18%.

If you're still not sure if Remitly is the cheapest or safest, use our real-time comparison engine below to compare Remitly's USD to INR rate with other top remittance companies 👇

Compare Western Union's exchange rate for dollar to rupee:

Frequently Asked Questions About the Dollar to Rupee Exchange Rate With Western Union

Why Trust Monito?

You’re probably all too familiar with the often outrageous cost of sending money abroad. After facing this frustration themselves back in 2013, co-founders François, Laurent, and Pascal launched a real-time comparison engine to compare the best money transfer services across the globe. Today, Monito’s award-winning comparisons, reviews, and guides are trusted by around 8 million people each year and our recommendations are backed by millions of pricing data points and dozens of expert tests — all allowing you to make the savviest decisions with confidence.

Learn More About Monito
  • Monito is trusted by 15+ million users across the globe.

  • Monito's experts spend hours researching and testing services so that you don't have to.

  • Our recommendations are always unbiased and independent.

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