India is home to nearly 18% of the total world’s population. With over 1.3 billion people, only China is more populous. India is a highly pluralistic, multi-ethnic and multilingual society. Although Hindi and English are the two most widely-spoken languages, there are at least other 16 official languages in the country. Hinduism is the most widely practiced religion (79%), followed by Islam (4.5%), Christianity (2.5%) and Sikhism (1.5%).
India has the 7th biggest economy in the world by nominal GDP and after instituting a swath of market-based economic reforms in 1991, it became one of the fastest-growing major economies on earth. Despite this, the country continues to face challenges related to economic disparity, government corruption and foreign direct investment.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) operates a “managed float” exchange rate regime where the Central Bank allows the market to discover the level of the rupee but can intervene to prevent excessive volatility. The managed float policy applies only to the rupee’s level against the US dollar, which means that the RBI can regularly intervene in the forex market to ensure that the USD/INR rate does not become too volatile.
This ‘managed float’ policy can have an effect on the AUD/INR exchange rate. Namely, it makes the AUD/INR rate heavily tied to fluctuations in the overall level of the USD. But macroeconomic factors still matter. India and Australia are both large trading nations. Trade policy between the two nations, as well as overall price changes of key imports and exports could influence the level of each country’s currency.
To send money to India you’ll need to gather the recipient’s banking details, including the IFSC and SWIFT Code, as well as the bank account number. The IFCS is an 11-digit code that identifies specific bank branches within the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) network in India. The Reserve Bank of India uses the IFSC for electronic money transfers between banks. You’ll need an IFSC whenever you’re transferring money from overseas into a bank account in India, as well as for any intra-country bank transfers.