State Bank of India SWIFT/BIC code

SWIFT/BIC code of State Bank of India

SBINCNSH and SBINCNSHXXX are two ways of writing the same SWIFT/BIC code, and both point to State Bank of India in Shanghai. Banks worldwide use these codes to route payments between countries to the correct institution. In practice you mostly see it on international invoices, in your banking app and in the bank details of State Bank of India customers.

We wrote this page to help anyone who pays into an account at State Bank of India without mistakes. The BIC identifies an institution, never a single account.

Head office or branch code at State Bank of India?

State Bank of India has 2 different SWIFT/BIC codes. One of them is the head office code, SBINCNSHXXX; the others belong to branches.

In most cases you do not need to look up a branch: transfers sent to SBINCNSHXXX are routed within State Bank of India correctly. Branch codes are only needed when the account holder specifically asks for it.

The safest approach is to take the code directly from the recipient’s statement. Codes for branches are more likely to be retired than the head office code.

What the XXX in SBINCNSHXXX means

Every SWIFT/BIC code has an 8-character core: a four-letter bank code, two letters for the country and a two-character location code. That gives you SBINCNSH for State Bank of India.

The 11-character version adds three more characters that identify a branch or department. If the last three are XXX, the code points to the head office, which is why SBINCNSHXXX and SBINCNSH lead to the same place.

As a rule the code is written in capitals and without spaces. Watch for the letter O and the digit 0 and the letter I and the digit 1; they are easy to mix up.

What to give a sender who pays you at State Bank of India

A sender in another country will ask for a few details from you. Share the account holder’s name, the IBAN or account number, SWIFT code SBINCNSHXXX and your address.

You can add State Bank of India and Shanghai as well, because some payment forms have separate fields for them. A mistake in the IBAN can be harder to fix than you might think, so copy the details from your online banking.

The amount you receive can be lower than what was sent. Correspondent banks can take a fee, and if the money is converted, an exchange rate margin applies. On invoices, it is common to state who bears the costs, so that nobody is left short.

What a transfer from State Bank of India abroad really costs

What you pay for an international transfer has more than one component, and the transfer fee is only the most visible one. Besides a fixed fee, banks in between can deduct a fee, and when currencies are converted the bank usually applies a rate that is less favourable than the actual market rate.

Most of the cost usually sits in the exchange rate, rather than in the fee: many banks convert using an exchange rate that includes a margin. Check their rate against the mid-market rate.

Specialist money transfer services frequently offer rates closer to the mid-market rate and lower fees. Next time you send money, take a minute to compare what arrives via GoldexPay instead of going straight to your bank. You can still keep your account at State Bank of India as the source of the money.

Chinese Yuan (CNY) and conversion costs

Most accounts at State Bank of India are typically held in CNY, the national currency of China. A payment in a foreign currency will be exchanged into CNY. Every conversion eats into something.

Who converts the payment matters, because each party uses its own rate. Check how much CNY arrives via several providers before choosing one.

The CNY rate fluctuates throughout the day. If you pay regularly, a slightly better rate add up over a year.

How to check SBINCNSH before you pay

Have the recipient copy their bank details directly from their online banking. If the code you have does not match SBINCNSH or SBINCNSHXXX, do not guess – contact the recipient or State Bank of India.

A wrong SWIFT code can cause delays, a returned payment or extra fees. Remember the account number: a mistake there can be more difficult to undo than a wrong code.

Many banking apps validate the format of an IBAN and sometimes look up the BIC automatically, but that does not prove the account belongs to the right person. Where available, a payee name check before sending gives an extra layer of safety. Sending a small amount first can be a sensible step for large sums despite the extra fee.

Where our SWIFT data comes from

We collect bank codes using publicly available data and update our list regularly. Still, banks merge, rename themselves or change codes. The number of codes we show are based on what is in our directory.

Before a payment that matters, confirm the BIC with State Bank of India or the recipient. GoldexPay has no connection to State Bank of India. If you notice a mistake, we welcome a message via the contact page.

How long does an international transfer to State Bank of India take?

A SWIFT payment usually needs anywhere from one to several business days. Payments made late in the day or just before weekends and holidays often start a business day later. Sometimes a bank wants to know about the purpose of a payment, which can hold things up.

Many banks use SWIFT gpi. Each payment gets a unique reference, the UETR that banks can use to trace it. Keep the payment confirmation until the recipient confirms.

A missing payment is traced by the sending bank, using the payment confirmation. As a recipient, it helps to look at your statements to see a partial amount, since fees may have been deducted.

Protect yourself against fake payment requests

One of the most common tricks goes like this: you receive a message claiming that a contact has a new bank account and asking you to pay there from now on. A valid SWIFT code says nothing about whether the request is genuine – scammers simply use real codes.

Check changed payment details through a separate channel, not by replying to the message. Pressure or requests to keep it quiet tend to be red flags – a real supplier can wait a day. Already paid? Contact your bank without delay and ask them to start a recall.

Recipients can be targeted as well: a classic trick is an overpayment and then sends a request to send back the difference. A payment confirmation from the sender proves nothing.