Commenting on the agreement Wells Fargo global remittance services executive vice-president Daniel Ayala said the services will be free of cost to begin with, and the transaction fee of $7 will be waived by Wells Fargo.
As per the agreement, both banks will have a commercial cost and profit sharing agreement, for uninterrupted services.
The US customer needs to conduct their first transaction through a Wells Fargo branch to avail the remittance facility.
Succeeding transactions can be conducted through Wells Fargo.com, or via Wells Fargo Phone Bank and funds are sent to HDFC Bank quickly for credit.
"India has the highest remittance volume in the world as per the World Bank data. This is evident by the high customer demand as well. We are glad we can make payout locations even more convenient now by working with HDFC Bank," Ayala said.
HDFC Bank executive director Harish Engineer said the agreement came about as the bank does not have a physical presence in the US.
"The new service will significantly enhance remittance opportunities to the country given that Wells Fargo has one of the largest number of branches (6,000) among the American banks and HDFC Bank has nearly 2,600 branches," Engineer said.
"While we’re a major player in the Gulf-India remittance market, this will help us consolidate in the US-India sector."
Indian remittances volume touched nearly $55bn in 2011, while the Middle East and the US accounted approximately 35% of the volume share.
Last year, the US bank has closed a similar deal with ICICI Bank which will continue, Ayala said.
