This surely is a day to rejoice for Adsense publishers in India. Google has finally announced that they will start offering Wire Transfer or EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer Payments) in India.
In month of December, we had mentioned to our readers that Google is in the Beta stage of testing their EFT payment services for Adsense Publishers in India.
In the Google product forums they have made an official announcement about the same. For all publishers, this will get activated from next cycle and they will also receive an intimation about the changes.
However, if any AdSense publishers are too eager, they can start getting payments into their accounts from this payment cycle itself. However, they will need to put a “self hold” before Sunday (16th March) to be eligible for this months payment.
One important thing that publishers need to keep in mind is that EFT payments will accrue a small fee (typically Rs. 56/- to Rs. 110/- ). However, during the beta testing it is seen that better exchange rates easily offset for the small fee that gets levied.
Just login to “payment settings” in your Adsense account and check on the “self hold” payment option. Here is the screenshot for the same.
With EFT payments coming into the picture, publishers will not have to wait for nearly 4 to 6 weeks for their AdSense cheques to arrive. The payment will directly get credited into the account mentioned in their Adsense accounts.
Here is the announcement made by Google in Product forums:
Hello AdSense publishers in India!
We’re excited to let you know that we’ll soon be improving the payments process in India and use a faster, more reliable, and secure alternative to cheque payments. As part of upgrading your account to our new payments system, we are replacing cheque payments with U.S. Dollar international wire transfers. We think you’ll find this to be a major improvement over cheque payments, and we welcome your feedback to let us know how this changes your payment experience. Publishers participating in our recent wire transfer beta testing report minimal fees (typically Rs. 56/- to Rs. 110/-, approximately $0.90 to $1.78) and favorable exchange rates on these transactions. You’ll benefit from receiving these payments in your bank account automatically, saving you from a trip to the bank.
I’d like to extend an invitation to anyone who would like to opt-in to wire transfer payments for the upcoming March scheduled payment. If you would like to receive this update on your account now, apply a “self-hold” to your payments. You can find this feature within the “payment settings” options. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be upgrading accounts in India with a payment self-hold to our new payments system. To be eligible for this month’s payment cycle, please make this preference change prior to Sunday, 16 March, 06:00 (AM) IST.
After this upgrade, you’ll need to provide wire transfer instructions for your bank account so that we can send your future payments. Be sure to obtain your bank’s specific wire transfer instructions for receiving U.S. Dollar wire transfers from abroad. While you may be able to find information such as your bank’s SWIFT code from an Internet search or members of the forum community, we strongly recommend only using instructions that you receive directly from your bank’s web site or agent as incorrect information could delay your payments. Unlike our old payments system, there is no strict monthly deadline for updating your payment details, so you’ll have plenty of time to complete this step.
We want you to receive the most value possible from your AdSense payments. Google pays most fees involved with sending payments by wire transfer and does not charge a fee for this service. Your bank will perform the U.S. Dollar to Indian Rupee currency exchange according to their policies, and it will typically assess a small fee covering the mandatory Service Tax required for currency conversion transactions. We recommend that you check your bank’s fee schedule to understand how it applies fees for receiving foreign wire transfers. We cannot recommend or endorse specific banks, but we suggest sharing wire transfer experiences within the publisher forum community. Sharing the name of the bank you use, fees assessed, and exchange rates received are OK. For your security, please do not post personal details about your bank account, payment amounts, transaction numbers, or other identifying info.
We ask that you continue to receive and deposit any outstanding cheque payments, if applicable. Normal 60-day cheque cancellation waiting period policies will apply.
We hope to make wire transfer payments fully available to all publishers in India soon. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to improve our payment processes in India and worldwide.
You can find additional information about setting up wire transfer payments in our Help Center.
Sincerely,
The Google AdSense Team
[Source]