Global payment services major, Western Union has tied up with State Bank of India (SBI) to enable international direct cash-to-account transfers.

The scheme is expected to become operational early next year, read the Western Union press release.

Indians working and living overseas, and general consumers holding SBI accounts will be able to send international cash transfers from Western Union directly into SBI online banking-linked accounts following an agreement between SBI and The Western Union Company, it read.

The new arrangement will allow consumers to send money from any one of the 3,70,000 global locations of Western Union into their SBI online account, thus complementing SBI's existing online remittance facility.

"Providing a new way of transacting means consumers receiving the money will have 24x7 access to their money, whether that is through online banking and ATMs or bank branches during business hours," Western Union India's Regional Vice-President, Kiran Shetty, said.

SBI has 110 million account holders of which 4.16 million customers are registered for online banking.