[didibus]

> When I send money to India from a US bank account via an intermediary (so that neither the US bank nor the Indian bank are first-party to the transaction) it is removed from my US account (in USD) and reaches my Indian account (in INR) within seconds, and I can see the balance in my Indian account and spend it right away

That's actually a lot more complicated. The Banks take loan with one another to make this happen as well from what I read.

[kinkrtyavimoodh]

It might be so, but I don't work in that field, so my perception will be guided by what I see. Which is my point, unless you are intimately familiar with how ACH etc works it's natural to assume that these transfers are near instantaneous.