When one is travelling abroad for leisure or work or for studies, one needs to carry sufficient amount of foreign currency that is accepted in the country one is travelling to. Let us take an example of a person called Ratnesh to understand the concept.
Ratnesh was travelling to the United Kingdom with his daughter Isha who was going there to study. She had just being accepted into the University of Leeds and was about to make the UK her residence for the next three years. Ratnesh was concerned about many things, but he was mainly concerned about the availability of local currency for various purposes. He wanted to have some good forex options for himself on his brief journey and he also wanted a forex service that would help out during Isha’s stay duration. He decided to visit his bank, ICICI and see what foreign exchange options they had. When Ratnesh walked into the branch, he was unsure. But when he walked out, there was a huge smile on his face as he had found solutions to his worries.
Forex: An Introduction
Forex is the short form for “foreign exchange”, which is nothing but foreign money that you can use overseas as it is local currency there. As we all know, different nations around the world have different currencies and the Indian rupee is not accepted as local currency anywhere else in the world. So if you are travelling to a different country, Australia for example, you will need to change your Indian rupees into Australian Dollars of an equivalent value. This will give you the freedom to spend your own money albeit in a different form in the different country.
Buying Forex in India
Forex is available in various forms. You can either get currency notes or you can get a travel card, which is like a pre-paid card with a set amount of money loaded in it. Additionally, you can also use your international credit card to swipe and make payments in foreign exchange when you are travelling outside of India. Forex in India is available from banks and local money exchange agents. It however is a good idea to get your foreign currency from reputed banks like ICICI. ICICI Bank is one of the largest private sector banks in India and offers a diverse variety of Forex services. So if you are planning to get some Forex, do visit ICICI Bank and see what options they have on offer.
ICICI Bank Forex Options
Like mentioned above, ICICI Bank has a whole lot of forex services on offer. They are:
- Currency notes: You can get currency notes of all of the major nations across the world. You can either exchange your own Indian rupee notes or have the same value in Indian Rupees directly deducted from your ICICI Bank account. It is a quick and simple way to get Forex. The reverse can also be done, and if after returning from a foreign trip, you have a lot of foreign currency left in your wallet, you can exchange them for Indian Rupees.
- Travel cards: If you do not like to travel with a lot of money in your wallet, you can simply opt for an ICICI Bank travel card. These cards are pre-loaded ATM cards that you can use to withdraw money from the local ATMs in the country of your travel or you can swipe them like debit cards and make payments when you travel. You can load money into these cards by paying the bank the desired currency or by asking them to directly debit the sum from your ICICI Bank account.
- Sending/receiving money: Ratnesh wanted to send money to his daughter every month for her expenses. He approached the ICICI Bank foreign currency department and they informed him that this would be possible. He could simply deposit money in Indian currency into the forex account and Isha would receive the equivalent cash in British Pounds in her chosen bank account in the UK. The reverse was also possible and if Isha wanted to send some money to her parents, she could deposit the pounds in her bank account and Ratnesh could withdraw the INR equivalent through the ICICI Bank forex services.
Advantages of using the ICICI Forex Services
You would be happy to know that there are many advantages of using the ICICI Bank’s Forex services. Some of these are:
- Best rates: When you deal with a bank that is as big and reputed as ICICI, you are assured of a lot of transparency. As a result, you get the best rates when you exchange foreign currency here. A lot of smaller exchange agents also provide foreign currency conversion services, both legally and illegally, but you hardly get any transparency there and so the rates are almost always higher. So if you want the best rates, exchange your money from a reputed bank like ICICI.
- Easy process: The process of getting the forex is also very simple with ICICI. All you have to do is visit any ICICI forex branch and your job will be done. If you are an existing ICICI Bank account holder, then you can also apply for a travel card online. You can also transfer or receive foreign exchange while sitting at home, via the official ICICI Bank website. The process is super simple and super quick as well.
- Customer support: ICICI Bank always strives to make banking a simple process for its customers. Therefore the bank has a dedicated customer support team that is always willing to help you out. So whether you want to know about the forex process in detail or you want to enquire about the prevalent forex rates, you can simply reach out to the friendly customer care team. They will give you all the information you need and then you can go ahead and get all your forex-related work done in a jiffy.
Conclusion
So as you can clearly see from the points mentioned above, the ICICI Forex services are among the best that we have in the country today. So whether you want to travel, just got back from a trip or you have relatives living abroad, all your foreign exchange issues can be sorted under one roof. Just contact your nearest ICICI bank and get the desired forex services you want right away.