Remittance corridor · World Bank RPW · 2025Q3
South Africa → India
Average cost sits in the upper fleet tercile at 16.4% on this South Africa → India route - senders pay more than typical RPW-tracked corridors.
- 16.4%
- Average cost
- 5.3%
- Cheapest · Mama Money
- 7
- Providers tracked
How the 16.4% average cost breaks down
World Bank RPW splits total remittance cost into the provider's transaction fee and the exchange-rate margin applied to the transfer. Same 2025Q3 figures as the detail table below.
Corridor-cost tercile vs fleet
South Africa → India posts 16.4% average cost, above the fleet upper tercile (~6.6%), ranking #332 of 348. Cheapest tracked floor: 5.3% via Mama Money.
- #332 of 348
- cheapest-cost corpus rank
- 16.4%
- average cost of a $200 transfer
- +9.1pp
- vs the 7.3% average of 348 corridors
- +13.4pp
- gap to the UN 3% target
Compared against the 348 corridors in the 2025Q3 release, not a generic headline figure.
Based on average cost, delivery speed, FX margin, provider competition, and cost trend from World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide data, benchmarked against all 348 tracked corridors - not a quote or a prediction of what you will pay.
What changed
World Bank RPW release record: 2025Q1 to 2025Q3
- Average transfer cost changed from 11.07% to 16.39% (+5.31 percentage points).
- Lowest observed transfer cost changed from 4.21% to 5.29% (+1.08 percentage points).
- Providers recorded by the source changed from 8 to 7 (-1 provider).
Subscribe to this corridor's cost changes (RSS) — one item per World Bank RPW release, no account or email required.
Where this corridor sits by provider panel size
South Africa → India has 7 World Bank RPW providers among 377 tracked corridors (inventory signal, not a cost-quality ranking). Orthogonal to the cost comparison below.
South Africa → India vs all corridors by provider count
Where this corridor's RPW provider panel sits among every tracked route
7 225th of 377 higher than 152 of 377 corridors
Corridors, banded by RPW provider inventory
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more corridors. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide · 2026-08-10
How South Africa → India compares
Average cost of a $200 transfer, percent, lower is cheaper
16.39% average - 13.4pp above target
Cost trend: South Africa → India
Average and cheapest cost of a $200 transfer over time, percent
Sending Country
Receiving Country
Nearby Corridors from South Africa
South Africa is one of the most connected sending markets in our data, with 12 tracked outbound corridors. The 5 below span the widest cost range, from the cheapest to send anywhere from South Africa through to the most expensive.
| # | Destination | Avg cost | Cheapest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mozambique | 10.3% | 2.7% |
| 2 | Kenya | 10.6% | 3.4% |
| 3 | Lesotho | 11.2% | 0.0% |
| 4 | Swaziland | 11.6% | 0.0% |
| 5 | Zimbabwe | 12.5% | 5.2% |
World Bank RPW fee spread
Release 2025Q3 ZA→IN
16.4% avg · 5.3% floor · 11.10pp spread on $200
- AVG 16.4%
- CHEAP 5.3%
- SPREAD 11.10pp
- SDG +13.4pp
- RANK #332 of 348
- REL 2025Q3
- PANEL 7
Cross-sender cost peers
Fee spread manifest for South Africa → India: entity-varying RPW stamps plus cross-sender ABS(avg_cost) peers from the current release. Compare corridors side-by-side →
High transfer cost on South Africa → India
World Bank RPW prices South Africa → India at 16.39% (2025Q3) - above the fleet upper tercile (~6.6%). Senders here pay more than typical tracked corridors, 10.0 pp above the ~6.4% global average.
That cheapest figure comes from the World Bank's mystery-shopping survey: trained researchers pose as customers and obtain real quotes for a standardized $200 transfer, across the 7 banks, money transfer operators, post offices and mobile-money providers RPW tracks on this corridor. It is a snapshot from that survey quarter, not a live guarantee -- confirm the current rate directly with the provider before sending.
Costs on this route have risen sharply, up 5.31 percentage points over the tracked period, a notable outlier since most tracked corridors have moved the other way. Across 39 quarters on record, average cost ranged 8.5%–16.4%, with 0 quarters at or under the UN 3% target. It sits 13.4 pp above the UN SDG 10.c 3% target.
About South Africa → India data
PlainRemit compares international money-transfer costs across tracked corridors so you can see which routes and providers charge the least before you send money abroad. This corridor's figures are computed directly from the World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide (RPW) quarterly survey, a mystery-shopping panel of actual transfer quotes for a standardized $200 transfer.
Average 16.39%; cheapest observed 5.29% via Mama Money; 7 providers tracked across 39 RPW quarters; vintage 2026-08-10.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to send money from South Africa to India?
Average 16.39% of the transfer amount (World Bank RPW, 2025Q3) - upper fleet tercile (above ~6.6%). Cheapest observed: 5.29% via Mama Money.
What is the cheapest way to send money from South Africa to India?
Lowest RPW survey quote on this corridor: 5.29% (Mama Money). 7 providers tracked.
Is the South Africa to India corridor meeting the UN SDG cost target?
Not yet: 16.4% is 13.4pp above the UN SDG 10.c 3% target and in the upper fleet cost tercile.
Where does South Africa → India sit among tracked remittance corridors?
According to World Bank Remittance Prices Worldwide average cost among 348 tracked corridors on PlainRemit, South Africa → India ranks #332 of 348 (cheapest = #1). Ordinal uses latest_avg_cost ASC matching /rankings/cheapest. See /methodology#corpus-placement.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.