Calcutta: A newly launched start-up promises to bring tips on banking and finance at the fingertips of students headed for the US and the UK for higher education.

The web version of Savingswize was launched this April and is already flooded with queries from students from across the country.

The UK section has gone live and counselling is on for the US-bound students.

India is the second leading place of origin for students to the US, comprising 17.3% of the total international students, according to Jamie Dragon, the director of American Center. Around 1,86,267 Indian students were studying in the US in 2016-17 and 47,000 visas were issued to Indian students last year.

The UK, on the other hand, gets around 20,000 Indian students a year, according to figures collected by Savingswize.

"The teething problems are many for Indian students abroad and that includes getting used to a whole new financial system," said Mridula Palat, the founder of Savingswize.

Palat learnt it the hard way when she reached New York in 2004 as a 24-year-old to study International Affairs-Global Business Strategy at Columbia University. She felt lost despite having visited the city before. From opening a bank account to finding ways to budget her stay, it was a whole new learning curve for her.

More than a decade later, the entrepreneur is hoping to help Indian students in the UK and US manage their personal finances and bag some good deals too. Savingswize also promises students a bank card within three days of their reaching the UK.

"An American student going to the UK can easily open a bank account but it takes almost a month for an Indian student to get a bank card. Most Indian students don't have a credit history. That makes theirs a high-risk profile. They end up losing a lot of money to banks," said Palat, whose start-up operates from Bangalore, San Francisco and Paris.

As a fresh crop of Indian students get ready for campus life in the UK this September, Palat is busy counselling the first batch of Indian students who have signed up with Savingswize.

Savingswize clinched a spot at Columbia University's Startup Labs and was also a finalist at the She Loves Tech Global Competition that chooses the best women-founded startups globally.