HDFC Bank Limited, India’s largest private-sector bank, announced today that it has partnered with Flywire Corporation, a global payments enablement and software company, to enable Indian payers to pay international education fees to higher education institutions all over the world in a seamless and digital manner. The integration simplifies the process of making high-value tuition payments for students and families while also assisting them in meeting LRS standards.
HDFC Bank works directly with Flywire’s platform, giving Indian students a fully digital checkout experience for everything from application fees to tuition payments. Students can pay in Indian rupees and enjoy a safe and simple payment experience, with the confidence that the funds will be delivered to the educational institution. Similarly, institutions accepting payments through Flywire benefit from timely payments in local currency as well as full transparency into transaction history, which simplifies reconciliation processes and streamlines operational efficiencies.
As the demand for international higher education experiences remains high, Indian students are becoming an increasingly essential group from which to recruit. According to the 2022 Open Doors Report, approximately 200,000 Indian students studied in the United States during the academic year 2021-2022, a 19 per cent increase over the previous year. According to another ICEF report, the Indian outbound student population will expand to a broader range of host countries and more than double over the next few years, reaching 1.8 million students by 2024.
Despite these mobility tendencies, Indian students have typically had to go through a lengthy, paper-based process to pay their tuition. As a result, Indian students are looking for a more straightforward, flexible payment method for foreign payments. According to a Flywire poll, 82 per cent of Indian students believe that streamlined payment methods would improve their educational experience.
The collaboration between HDFC Bank and Flywire offers a new method to international education payments that benefits both students and institutions. First, the connection enables a smooth and digital payment experience, transforming what was formerly a time-consuming and complex process into a wholly online one. The integration also simplifies the compliance procedure for the Reserve Bank of India’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), which allows Indian residents to transmit up to $250,000 USD overseas per fiscal year.
HDFC Bank and Flywire deliver the essential LRS verification swiftly and from within the payer’s digital payment experience. The integration also benefits institutions because it allows them to automatically capture all relevant student information, ensuring accurate and identifiable payments. Flywire recognises the source of payments delivered to a bank account and automatically posts each payment to the appropriate student record.
Also Read | HDFC Bank inks MoU with Govt of Karnataka
“We are pleased to partner with Flywire and offer a comprehensive suite of payments solutions to Indian students,” said Jatinder Gupta, Business Head – Retail Trade and Forex, HDFC Bank. “Our combined network and scale of solutions will allow students and families to conveniently and securely manage their international payments, whether they’re in India or abroad. By partnering with Flywire, we’re expanding the footprint of our payments solutions to benefit the next generation of students.”
“One of the leading advantages of this partnership is the sheer convenience of it for payers, as it reduces time and documentation they’d normally have to provide,” said Mohit Kansal, VP of Global Payments, Flywire. “The combination of Flywire’s payment technology and HDFC’s vast banking network creates an open-banking experience for Indian payers, enabling them to transform what could normally be a paper-based process, to one that’s now completely online.”
