Payments to India
Formatting guide
Our guide to correctly formatting the purpose for payments you make to India.
Banking regulation in India requires a certain level of information about the payment you’re making. You’ll need to choose a purpose for your payment, as well as specific information to support it. Without this information, your payment could be cancelled, delayed or rejected.
To support you with this, when you make a payment online, you’ll be asked to choose one of the 15 payment types listed below. We’ll then ask you to include payment details that need to be formatted in a certain way, to match the purpose chosen. Details of what to include can be found below and will also be shown when you make the payment online.
If you’re not making the payment online, you’ll need to provide the purpose of payment and supporting details to the Barclays colleague you speak to. In most cases these should be covered by the information on this page, but if you can’t find a relevant payment purpose, refer to our payment formatting guide. [PDF, 483KB]
Online Banking purposes
- Personal gifts: include the purpose/your residency status/relationship to the recipient
- Religious or charitable donation: include the FCRA number
- Payment for educational services: for example, fees
- Family maintenance and savings: from an Indian non-resident
- Exports payments after shipment: not to Nepal or Bhutan
- Exports advance payments: not to Nepal or Bhutan
- Loan payment
- Salary payment: to employees
- Office maintenance: include UIN
- Travel: bookings
- Reimbursement: of expenses
- House maintenance: payment to caretaker
- Foreign direct investment: details required
- Legal fees: details required
- Corporate payments: include nature of goods or services
If you want to buy a property in India, please contact one of our branches or use Telephone Banking, where available. Details of the information you’ll need can be found below.
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Payments can only be made to registered charities. Please enter a valid FCRA number (available from the Ministry of Home Affairs website), otherwise the payment won’t be accepted. The beneficiary must always be a legal entity and not an individual.
What to enter in the payment detail field: Payment purpose, FCRA number. The payment field should also include your reason, such as 'charity'.
For example
Donation to charity, FCRA number 23166013R -
What to enter in the payment detail field: [Relative’s relationship to you] [fee type] for [month and year] to [month and year]
For example
Daughter’s college fees for September 2018 to June 2019
Son’s school fees for March to September 2019 -
Payments not including the payee’s relationship to you won’t be accepted. You can only make payments to an immediate relative; for example, father, son, daughter, sister, brother – not an uncle, aunt or cousin.
What to enter in the payment detail field: [Type of payment] to [relationship]
For example
Maintenance payment to wife
Savings for brother -
What to enter in the payment detail field: Export payment / invoice reference number / shipment date [DD.MM.YY] / description of goods or services
For example
Export payment / invoice 12456NT / Shipment 11.12.17 / Car parts
Export payment / invoice 21Nov-1231 / Shipment 11.12.17 / 1000 paintbrushes -
What to enter in the payment detail field: Export payment, invoice number, shipping date [future day, month, year], description of goods or services
For example
Export payment, invoice number 521856P, to be shipped on 12 June 2022, Car parts
Export payment, invoice number 157XT, to be shipped on 28 September 2021, 1000 paintbrushes
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This is only for individuals, and you’ll need to provide loan details.
What to enter in the payment detail field for loans to relatives: Loan to [relative], loan maturity (must be more than one year and interest free), loan amount and currency.
For example
Loan to brother, loan maturity 2 years, no interest, loan amount USD2000
What to enter in the payment detail field for loans to non-relatives: Payment purpose, from [your status] (non-resident Indian or person of Indian origin), loan maturity (must be less than three years), interest rate (must be less than 2% above bank rate), loan amount and currency.
REM status
- NRI - Non-Resident Indian
- PIO - Person of Indian Origin
- OCI - Overseas Citizen of India
- Foreign national
For example
Loan to John Smith, from non-resident Indian, loan maturity 2 years, interest rate 1.9%, loan amount USD2000
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Salary payments can only be sent to an individual from the employer.
What to enter in the payment detail field: Salary for [payee name] for [period]
For example
Salary for John Smith for June 2020
Salary for Joan Smyth for July to September 2020 -
Payments not including the Unique Identification Number (UIN) will be unsuccessful. UINs are allotted by the Reserve Bank of India in 12 alphanumeric characters.
What to enter in the payment detail field: Offices in [location], UIN or maintenance expense, invoice number, invoice date [DD.MM.YY]
For example
Office maintenance expenses in Pune, UIN AHLO15874859B, invoice number A923B3, invoice date 01.01.20 -
What to enter in the payment detail field: Travel for [reason] from [origin] to [destination], invoice number and invoice date [DD.MM.YY]
For example
Travel for sightseeing holiday from London to India, invoice number 867923, invoice date 19.10.20
Travel for business from Jaipur to London, invoice number A923B3, invoice date 18.11.20 -
This is for reimbursing business expenses incurred by employees. It can only be sent to an individual from an employer.
What to enter in the payment detail field: Purpose of payment
For example
Employee expenses for business travel from New Delhi to London -
This can only be sent to an individual.
What to enter in the payment detail field: Purpose of payment to [relationship to you]
For example
Payment for housekeeping to employee -
What to enter in the payment detail field: [Purpose of payment] to [investee name], beneficiary contact details [name, telephone number, email]. Please use ‘AT’ as an alternative to @ in the beneficiary email address.
For example
Purchase of fresh equity with John Smith co., beneficiary contact details – John Smith, +911234567890, johnsmithATemail.com -
What to enter in the payment detail field: [Purpose of payment] invoice number, invoice date [DD.MM.YYYY], tel [phone number]
For example
Payment for legal advice, invoice number 4392987, invoice date 18/05/2018, tel +91 1234567890 -
Payments will be rejected if there isn’t a clear purpose for the payment.
What to enter in the payment detail field: Nature of service, invoice number and invoice date [DD.MM.YYYY]
For example
Software development work, invoice number 4392987, invoice date 18.05.2018
Bookkeeping services, invoice number H56884, invoice date 16.09.2020Purchasing property
Please note, this isn’t an available purpose of payment in Online Banking, but you can use this as a purpose of payment in our branches.
If you’re a non-resident Indian or person of Indian origin, you can purchase immovable property in India – excluding agricultural, plantation and farm houses.
If you’re a citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Nepal, Bhutan, Macau or Hong Kong, you’ll need prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) before acquiring immovable property.
If you’re a foreign national of another country, you can acquire immovable property (only on lease for up to five years) without needing RBI approval.
What to enter in the payment detail field: Purpose of payment / type of property <XXXX> / REM status <REM status> / nationality of REM <nationality>
For example
House purchase / type of property residential / REM status NRI / nationality of REM Indian
