How to Send Money from Qatar to India, Pakistan, Nepal & Philippines: Exchange Houses Compared

Exchange houses in Qatar compared

The table reflects what each provider publishes on its own website or app listing, checked on 1 October 2026. "Not publicly verified" means the information was not published where we could read it, which is different from the service not existing. Several Qatar-hosted provider sites were unreachable from our research network that day, so for three providers we relied on their own app store listings.

Provider	Verified destinations	Branch or app	Payout methods	Published delivery conditions	Fees or quote availability	Official link
Alfardan Exchange	Not publicly verified by country. States 120+ correspondent bank relationships worldwide	Both. 25+ branch entries listed, plus online portal	Credit to bank account, cash pickup, Western Union	Cash pickup described as instant at worldwide locations on valid ID plus the receipt reference	Site states online transfer from QR 15. Per-corridor pricing: live quote required	alfardanexchange.com.qa
Gulf Exchange	India, Pakistan, Nepal, Philippines all named with correspondent partners	Both. 22 branches, iOS and Android apps, web portal, Ooredoo app	Bank transfer, cash pickup, mobile wallet	Western Union and Xpress Money same-day. Bank transfers stated as within 24 hours	Rates page labelled indicative only, may vary by service or branch. Live quote required	gulfexchange.com.qa
Habib Qatar International Exchange	India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, plus Bangladesh, Indonesia, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Tunisia	Both. 5 branches, iOS and Android apps	Bank transfer, cash pickup at branches	Under QR 3,500 processed immediately. Above QR 3,500 subject to clearing delays	States back-end charges deducted from transfer proceeds. Amounts not published. Live quote required	hqie.com.qa
Al Dar Exchange	Not publicly verified by country. Philippines indicated by SSS, Pag-IBIG and PhilHealth bill payment	Both. App available; website unreachable 1 Oct 2026	Bank transfer, cash pickup, mobile wallet, Visa card transfer	App states bank transfer or cash pickup 24/7	Live quote required	App Store listing
Al Zaman Exchange	India, Pakistan, Philippines named via Ooredoo Money partnership. Nepal not publicly verified	Both. Branch network in Qatar; website behind a challenge page 1 Oct 2026	Not publicly verified in detail	Not publicly verified	Live quote required	Ooredoo partner announcement
City Exchange	Not publicly verified by country	Both. App available; website unreachable 1 Oct 2026	Beneficiary account credit. Others not publicly verified	App states under 2 minutes for existing customers	Funding restricted to a debit card issued in Qatar. Live quote required	App Store listing

Keep three other channels separate from exchange houses. Ooredoo Money does not run these corridors itself: its FAQ names MoneyGram, Western Union, Al Dar Exchange and Al Zaman Exchange as the partners behind its international payments, says fees start at QR 20 and vary by country and provider, and gives a window of 24 to 72 hours. Western Union reaches Qatar senders through authorised channels, including Alfardan Exchange and Gulf Exchange counters and the Ooredoo Money app. Qatar banks also remit internationally; Doha Bank has publicised instant transfers to India and fee waivers on some Pakistan transfers, though that announcement dates from 2018 and should be reconfirmed.

Qatar Central Bank supervises exchange houses as licensed financial institutions and introduced standardised money-transfer purpose codes in 2024. Habib Qatar International Exchange states its QCB licence on its own site. We could not locate a public QCB page listing licensees by name, so to confirm a provider's standing, ask the branch to show its licence or contact Qatar Central Bank.

How to compare the real transfer cost

Six things move the final receive amount, and only the first is usually advertised.

• Sender fee. Alfardan Exchange publishes online transfers from QR 15. Ooredoo Money publishes fees starting at QR 20.
• Exchange-rate margin. The gap between the offered rate and the mid-market rate. On QAR 1,000 this is often larger than the fee, and it is never itemised on the receipt.
• Funding charges. City Exchange's app requires a debit card issued in Qatar, and card funding can carry its own charge from your bank even when the provider adds none.
• Recipient or intermediary deductions. Habib Qatar International Exchange states that back-end charges are deducted from transfer proceeds. A correspondent or receiving bank can also take a cut.
• Promotional conditions. Zero-fee offers are often limited to a first transfer, a minimum amount, one corridor or the app only.
• Final recipient amount. The only figure that compares providers fairly.

We could not obtain comparable live quotes for any corridor without creating accounts and submitting personal information, so live quote required applies throughout, and no provider here is ranked cheapest.

The figures below are illustrative only and invented for the example. They are not quotes and no provider offered them. Budget QAR 1,000 including fees, bank deposit in India, cash funding at a branch, all quotes within the same hour. The rate is Indian rupees per 1 Qatari riyal.

Illustrative provider	Fee (QAR)	Converted (QAR)	Illustrative rate (INR per QAR)	Recipient receives (INR)
Example A	15	985	22.00	21,670
Example B	0	1,000	21.75	21,750
Example C	0	1,000	21.50	21,500

Example B beats Example A despite A having the better rate, and Example C loses to both despite charging nothing. A zero-fee transfer is sometimes cheaper and sometimes not, and you cannot tell which without the receive amount. Use this arithmetic only where the provider actually deducts its fee from the budget you named.

For historical context rather than live pricing, the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide database recorded these average total costs for the third quarter of 2025, on its standard survey of sending the equivalent of USD 200: Qatar to India 2.50 percent, Qatar to Pakistan 1.33 percent, Qatar to the Philippines 2.51 percent, and Qatar to Nepal reported as USD 4.00 on that USD 200 benchmark. This is past-quarter survey data across many providers, not a quote you can act on. If your transfer is a fixed share of pay, the average salary in Qatar helps size it.

Sending money from Qatar to India

India is the best-documented of the four corridors. Gulf Exchange publishes its Indian correspondents: Federal Bank, ICICI Bank and South Indian Bank. Habib Qatar International Exchange lists India on its public rate board. Several Qatar exchange houses also appear on Indian banks' own published lists of Qatar tie-ups, a useful second signal that the corridor is live.

Speed can be genuinely fast here because India's instant rails are widely supported. Gulf Exchange transfers initiated through the Ooredoo Money app have been publicised as crediting IMPS partner bank accounts in 60 seconds, though only a subset of Indian banks is eligible. Doha Bank has advertised 7 seconds to its own India accounts and within 60 minutes to other Indian banks, again on a 2018 announcement worth reconfirming.

For a bank deposit you need the beneficiary's name as the bank holds it, the account number, and the IFSC code of that specific branch. The IFSC is needed for bank rails, not for cash pickup. Take it from the recipient's passbook or bank app, because an IFSC for the right bank but the wrong branch is a common cause of returned transfers. Cash pickup is the alternative, available through providers including Alfardan Exchange.

Sending money from Qatar to Pakistan

Gulf Exchange names three Pakistani correspondents: Allied Bank, Bank Al Habib and Bank of Khyber. Habib Qatar International Exchange lists Pakistan on its rate board. Al Zaman Exchange's Qatar-origin availability for Pakistan is confirmed through its Ooredoo Money partnership.

Do not assume Raast, Easypaisa or JazzCash is available at whichever exchange house you walk into. Those rails are popular and several providers support one or more, but none of the Qatar providers we could read publishes a per-rail list. Confirm wallet and Raast payout at the counter or in the app before you pay.

For a bank deposit, the recipient's IBAN matters most in Pakistan, along with the name exactly as the bank holds it. Wallet payout usually needs the registered mobile number with a matching name. Cash pickup remains widely available and is the fallback when the recipient has no account.

Sending money from Qatar to Nepal

Nepal is where provider differences show most clearly, so check rather than assume.

Gulf Exchange publishes three Nepal partners: Himalayan Bank Limited, Nepal Investment Mega Bank and CityExpress. CityExpress is a domestic remittance network with a wide agent footprint, which is what makes cash collection practical outside the main cities. Habib Qatar International Exchange lists Nepal on its rate board.

Al Zaman Exchange is the clearest counter-example. The destination list in its Ooredoo Money announcement covers Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt and Thailand, and does not name Nepal. That is not proof the corridor is unavailable, and the announcement is from 2019, but it means you should ask. The same caution applies to Alfardan Exchange, Al Dar Exchange and City Exchange, none of which publishes a Nepal payout partner list we could verify.

For a bank deposit you need the bank name, branch, account number and the beneficiary name as held. For cash collection through a network such as CityExpress, confirm which collection points are near the recipient, as coverage varies by district.

Sending money from Qatar to the Philippines

Gulf Exchange names two Philippine correspondents: BDO Unibank and Metrobank. Habib Qatar International Exchange lists the Philippines on its rate board. Al Dar Exchange's app describes Philippine bill payments for SSS, Pag-IBIG and PhilHealth, worth knowing if you send money partly to cover those contributions. Al Zaman Exchange's Philippines availability is confirmed through the Ooredoo Money partnership.

GCash and Maya are not confirmed as available through every provider listed, and neither is any particular cash-pickup chain. None of the Qatar provider pages we could read names a Philippine wallet partner, so if wallet payout is your reason for choosing a provider, confirm it before registering.

For a bank deposit you need the account number and the beneficiary name as the bank holds it. For cash pickup, the name on the recipient's government ID must match the transfer exactly, including middle names where the ID shows them. Mismatches are a frequent reason collections are refused.

Documents and recipient details

Requirements are provider-specific. There is no single checklist for every exchange house in Qatar, and no single legal limit that applies to all of them.

Resident registration. Gulf Exchange publishes the clearest breakdown: Qatar residents present a Qatar ID; Qatari nationals a Qatar ID or passport; GCC nationals a national ID or passport, all valid originals. It also states a first visit in person is required to complete KYC, after which transfers can be made in the app. Al Dar Exchange's app describes an eKYC flow with QID verification and OTP, suggesting registration can begin remotely. Before you start, check your Qatar ID status, since an expired QID will stop registration. If it has lapsed, our Qatar ID renewal guide covers the next step. QatarVia cannot verify documents or complete registration for you.

Visitors and non-residents. Gulf Exchange states that non-residents present a passport and visa. That is one verified option at one provider, not a general rule, so visitors should confirm with the branch.

Beneficiary details by method. Bank deposit needs the account number and the name as the bank holds it, plus the branch IFSC in India and the IBAN in Pakistan. Cash pickup needs the recipient's full name as printed on their government ID plus your receipt reference. Wallet payout needs the registered mobile number and a matching name.

Source of funds and larger transfers. Expect questions on larger or unusual transfers, and expect thresholds to differ by provider. Habib Qatar International Exchange publishes one concrete figure: transfers under QR 3,500 are processed immediately, above that they face clearing delays. Keep salary certificates, bank statements or a sale document to hand for an unusually large amount.

How to send through a branch

Requirements vary by provider, so treat this as the general shape rather than a universal script.

1. Bring your valid original Qatar ID, or passport and visa if you are not a resident.
2. Tell the teller the destination country, the payout method and the total riyals you want to spend.
3. Ask for the fee, the offered rate and the exact amount the recipient will receive, then compare that receive amount against another provider before paying.
4. Give the beneficiary details and check the name spelling against the recipient's ID or bank record.
5. Pay, then check the printed receipt before leaving the counter.
6. Keep the receipt. Its reference number is what the recipient needs for cash collection and what you need to trace the transfer.

How to send through an app

Most providers here publish an app, including Alfardan Exchange, Gulf Exchange, Habib Qatar International Exchange, Al Dar Exchange and City Exchange. The sequence is generic because we have not tested these apps and will not invent screen names or button labels.

1. Register with your mobile number and Qatar ID details. Some providers complete this in-app through eKYC; Gulf Exchange states a first in-person visit is needed.
2. Complete identity verification and wait for approval, which is not always instant.
3. Add the beneficiary, entering account or wallet details and the name exactly as the receiving institution holds it.
4. Review the quote. Check fee, rate and receive amount together. Ooredoo Money states its app shows the fee and rate before you confirm.
5. Pay using a supported funding method. City Exchange's app requires a Qatar-issued debit card, so a cash-only sender needs the counter.
6. Track the transfer with the reference the app gives you.

Delivery time, tracking and failed transfers

"Instant" is conditional everywhere, typically applying only to selected partner institutions and eligible transactions. The 60-second India credit publicised for Gulf Exchange through Ooredoo Money applies to IMPS partner banks, and only some Indian banks qualify. Gulf Exchange separately describes Western Union and Xpress Money as same-day while putting bank transfers at within 24 hours. Ooredoo Money gives a wider window of 24 to 72 hours.

Initiating a transfer is not the same as the money being available. Cut-off times mean an evening transfer may not enter the destination clearing cycle until the next working day. Weekends and public holidays differ between Qatar and the receiving country, so a Friday transfer from Doha can land in a closed banking window. Compliance checks can hold a transfer, particularly a first one to a new beneficiary. Above QR 3,500, Habib Qatar International Exchange states that clearing delays apply.

Most providers offer tracking: Alfardan Exchange has a transfer tracking page and Habib Qatar International Exchange a remittance tracker. Keep the reference number, since both you and the recipient will be asked for it.

The commonest cause of failure is a recipient data error: a wrong account number, a wrong IFSC branch, or a name that does not match the bank record. A rejected transfer is usually returned rather than lost, but the return can take days and the amount coming back may be reduced by charges and a second conversion.

Cancellation, refunds and support

Cancellation depends on the provider's terms and on whether the money has been paid out. As a rule, a transfer not yet collected or credited may be stoppable, while one already paid to the recipient generally cannot be reversed. No provider here publishes an automatic refund promise, and you should not assume one exists. Fees are not always refunded, and where a refund involves converting back to riyals, the rate applied may differ from the one you were given.

Ask before you pay: can this be cancelled, at what point does that stop being possible, and what is refunded if it is.

Support is through the provider, not QatarVia. Gulf Exchange publishes customer care on 4438 3222 and 4438 3223, plus an email address and a website complaints route. Alfardan Exchange publishes customer service on 4453 7777, including WhatsApp. If a provider does not resolve a complaint, Qatar Central Bank is the supervisory authority for exchange houses.

Which option suits your needs?

There is no overall winner here, and we are not naming one without comparable quotes.

• Highest verified recipient amount: no provider can be declared cheapest from public information. Quote two or three on the same budget, payout method and hour. Yesterday's quote is not a comparison.
• Cash pickup: Alfardan Exchange describes instant worldwide collection on valid ID plus the receipt reference. Gulf Exchange and Habib Qatar International Exchange also offer it, and Al Dar Exchange's app describes it 24/7.
• Supported wallet payout: Gulf Exchange and Al Dar Exchange both list mobile wallet. Confirm the specific wallet for your corridor first, as none publishes a per-corridor list.
• App convenience: all six publish an app, but check funding. City Exchange requires a Qatar-issued debit card, which rules it out if you intend to pay cash.
• Branch assistance in person: Alfardan Exchange lists 25+ branch entries and Gulf Exchange 22, including mall and metro locations with long hours. Habib Qatar International Exchange has 5, so proximity may decide it.
• Larger transfers: expect extra checks and build in time. The QR 3,500 threshold at Habib Qatar International Exchange is the one published figure we found. If you are sending a lump sum such as an end-of-service gratuity calculation result, ask about limits and documents in advance.

Your next step

Pick two or three providers that support your corridor and payout method, request comparable quotes on the same riyal budget within the same hour, and write down the receive amount each offers. Confirm beneficiary details against the recipient's bank record or ID. Then read the receipt or app confirmation before you pay, and keep it for tracking.