@lucianne I am a freelance software dev working with an international client. Due to legal requirements, getting the money directly into your bank account is important. So, although transferwise is great, but doesn't help you here.
I went for Kotak Mahindra but I would suggest you open the account in either HDFC or ICICI. There are downsides of kotak regarding paying your advance tax / opening NPS etc. It gives all the features but they aren't direct. Also, you can't pay advance tax with Kotak directly from the ndsl website. Minor things but they are irritating.
Apart from that, Kotak was really weird in terms of opening the account. It seemed like it was the first time that the particular branch to open a current account for a software developer.
Nevertheless, regarding the exchange rates, it depends on how you're able to negotiate the rate with the bank manager/RM before opening the account itself. So the rates that you see on their website, won't be the actual rates and they can be cut down to how well you were able to bargain.
