Indian Post forges remittance alliance with MoneyGram
India Post has sealed an alliance with MoneyGram International to begin providing cross-border money transfer services in the world’s largest network of post offices. The number of Indians living abroad is currently around 30 million and growing, but they can find it difficult to send money home – particularly to rural areas, where banks have only a 5% coverage.
India’s minister of communications and information technology, Shri Kapil Sibal, who marked the agreement today by making the first money transfer, also noted that 50% of Indians do not have a bank account.
Sending money without needing a bank account will make a difference to the lives of citizens, and support the financial inclusion ambitions of the government, said the minister, whose first transaction involved a transfer of money from the United Arab Emirates to Delhi.
India Post has a network of more than 150,000 post offices, but initially MoneyGram services will be offered in 100 of the largest branches in Delhi, and in the Punjab and Tamil Nadu regions from today.
Hopes are to extend the service to 5,000 post offices within three years.
Service coverage could also receive a boost from current efforts to extend postal banking systems to the 25,000 departmental post offices that now have computer access.
Social relevance
Radhika Doraiswamy, Secretary at the Department of Posts, said India Post had been involved in paper-based international money transfer services for a while, and that the social relevance of its financial services have stepped up recently with its role distributing wages to people in rural areas under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme, a public work programme underway since 2005.
But, she said the Post was continuing to work “tirelessly” to extend financial services to all Indians.
“It is in this context that our association with MoneyGram, a leading global money transfer company, is significant,” said Doraiswamy. “This tie-up will help India Post to provide valuable service to our customers in a fast, convenient and cost-effective manner.”
Part of the alliance between India Post and MoneyGram will involve a joint plan to market the services in various Indian states.
MoneyGram International, which has its global headquarters in Dallas, Texas, now offers its services through more than 244,000 locations in 192 countries around the world.
Harsh Lambah, MoneyGram senior regional director for South Asia, said: “MoneyGram’s teaming with India Post reaffirms the company’s commitment to serving its hundreds of thousands of customers in the world’s largest remittance market, and the value MoneyGram brings India Post’s business and customers. Bringing India Post, one of the world’s largest postal services, to our network is very exciting.”
