Desperately seeking to send money to a relative?

Not to worry. Help is at hand, as banks have begun offering card-to-card money transfer.

IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank [Get Quote], HDFC Bank [Get Quote], UTI Bank [Get Quote], Citibank and Kotak Mahindra Bank [Get Quote], in association with Visa, the global payment company, have started card-to-card money transfer facility in the country.

This service allows customers to transfer money online from their bank accounts to any valid Visa debit or credit card issued by any bank in India.

Banks permit transfer of funds between Rs 25,000 and Rs 100,000 per day with no restriction on the number of transactions per day. At present most banks offer this facility free of cost.

However, they are planning to levy around Rs 25 per transfer depending on the quantum of money from the next quarter, said bankers.

Card-to-card fund transfer is a better option compared with other means of fund transfer such as cheque, demand drafts, money orders and electronic fund transfer, as it is instant, free of cost and the customer need not visit the bank's branch every time.

The other options cost around Rs 50 and it takes a longer time -- normally three to four days -- for the money to reach its destination.

The amount of funds that can be transferred through a card is also higher compared with the good ol' money order. But through this postal department vista, you can transfer only Rs 5,000.

Customers can also send funds through the real time gross settlement system set up by the Reserve Bank of India [Get Quote].

However, RTGS is economical only for high-value transactions and is a good proposition for corporates and not retail customers. The minimum amount that can be transferred under this is Rs 100,000.

Also, a customer will have to pay in excess of Rs 50 per transaction, said a banker.

Another point is, to facilitate an RTGS transaction, all bank branches should be RTGS-enabled. At present, only about 110 bank branches are part of the network.