German banking group Deutsche Bank has partnered with Boston-based cross-border payment services provider Flywire to streamline tuition fee payments for India’s overseas students.
The partnership will look to provide “a seamless experience” to students and their guardians and reduce “complexity while ensuring regulatory requirements are met”.
According to the bank, there are an estimated 300,000 students from India enrolled in higher studies across the world.
Ryan Frere, vice president of global payments for Flywire, said: “We’re very pleased to be able to work with Deutsche Bank to offer this option to make cross-border transactions easier for Indian students and their families.
“India is one of the fastest-growing source countries for international students in the world and we strive to offer the most convenient and efficient local payment methods – no matter where they originate. Over time, we expect the maximum payment amount qualifying for this programme to increase, further streamlining the experience.”
Regulation
India has a “highly-regulated payments environment with extensive document requirements” for sending funds abroad. Students are required to physically visit counters and submit relevant documents.
Over the last 18 months, Deutsche Bank has worked with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to “build the regulator’s confidence” in Flywire’s operating model, and the due diligence, audit and compliance measures taken by the bank.
Flywire had to seek approval from the RBI to facilitate remittances by students through its Special Non-Resident Rupee (SNRR) account. It became the first company to be granted an approval for opening an SNRR account in India.
With this in place, Deutsche Bank streamlined the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) declaration process that allows parents and guardians of students to pay tuition fees by moving from a manual process to an online one.
Anjali Mohanty, managing director and head of global transaction banking at Deutsche Bank India, said: “By ensuring that the process we developed met all Indian regulatory requirements, we were able to create a significantly superior user experience for the student population that Flywire targets.”
