Flywire Corporation, a global payments enablement and software company, today announced that it has partnered with State Bank of India, India’s largest public sector bank, to enable Indian payers to seamlessly and digitally pay international education-related fees in their local currency (Indian Rupees) to higher education institutions all over the world. The integration provides students and families a streamlined and completely digital experience when making high-value education payments, and helps them comply with the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS), which are guidelines to help streamline overseas transactions and investments for residents of India.

Flywire integrates directly into SBI’s banking platform, providing Indian students with a fully digital checkout experience for their transactions, ranging from application fees to tuition payments. The solution is available only to local currency account holders of SBI in India. Students can make the payment in three simple steps from within their SBI net banking platform, all in Indian rupees, and can track the payment through to when the funds are delivered to their university. Likewise, institutions accepting payments through Flywire benefit from receiving payments on time in the local currency, as well as full transparency into the transaction history, which eases their reconciliation processes and streamlines operational efficiencies.

Capitalizing on the rise of Indian outbound students

Indian students continue to be a key driver of international education and a boon for the global economy. According to the Open Doors® 2023 Report on International Educational Exchange, India sent a record number of students to the U.S. for the 2022-2023 academic year, representing an increase of 35% over the prior academic year. Another report from University Living forecasts that as many as two million Indian students will study abroad by 2025 and that direct global spending on study abroad by Indian students could reach US USD 70 billion by 2025. The report cites that Indian students are mostly concentrated in the destination countries of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Despite these mobility trends, Indian students have traditionally been faced with a lengthy, paper-based experience when it comes to making tuition payments, which can cause unnecessary delays in payment. As a result, Indian students are seeking a simpler, more flexible payment process for their international payments. According to a recent Flywire report, 94% of Indian students surveyed believe that simplified payment processes would improve their education experience.

Creating a fully digital payment experience for students in India

The partnership between Flywire and SBI provides an innovative approach to education payments and offers many benefits to students and institutions alike. First, the integration creates a seamless and digital payment experience for the more than 480 million Indian residents who are customers of SBI, transforming what was formerly a lengthy and complex process to one that is completely online. SBI customers can complete payments from local currency accounts to the thousands of Flywire education clients in a simple, three-step process.

The integration also streamlines the compliance process for the LRS, which are guidelines set by the Reserve Bank of India that enable residents of India to remit up to $250,000 USD overseas, per financial year. Flywire and SBI help Indian residents comply with the LRS requirements quickly from within the payer’s digital payment experience.

The integration also benefits institutions, as they can automatically capture all relevant student information, ensuring payments are accurate and identifiable. Flywire identifies the source of payments delivered to an institution’s bank account and automatically posts each payment to the applicable student record.

“We are thrilled to partner with SBI to combine their comprehensive banking network and Flywire’s payment technology with the goal of transforming how international payments are made,” said Mohit Kansal, SVP of Global Payments, Flywire. “This powerful integration enables students to transform what was typically a cumbersome, multi-day process into a streamlined and seamless digital experience. We take all the complexity away so all they need is a login and a computer or a mobile phone.”

SBI said: “We are pleased to partner with Flywire and offer this unique offering to Indian students and customers of SBI. By partnering with Flywire, we’re expanding the footprint of our payment solutions to benefit the next generation of students.”