MoneyGram expands service coverage with India Post
Money transfer specialist MoneyGram has expanded its retail agreement with India Post to include its services in hundreds more post offices in India. Thousands more post offices in India are set to join the MoneyGram network in the next few years.
The US company said yesterday that the deal will see its money transfer services extended from the current 100 locations to more than 650 across the country.
MoneyGram officials met with community dignitaries in the Subcontinent yesterday to highlight the importance of postal networks for its distribution strategy.
The US company said the postal network was “critical” in facilitating distribution of funds in a country where less than half the population has a bank account.
State-run India Post has the world’s largest postal retail network, with 155,000 retail outlets, and MoneyGram’s service is planned to reach 5,000 post offices by 2014.
For MoneyGram, the partnership with India Post opens access to the largest market in the world for inward remittance. The World Bank says around 30m Indian people working abroad sent $53.1bn home last year.
Economic Growth
India’s minister of state for communications, Shri Sachin Pilot, said international inward remittances were playing an increasing role in economic growth in his country.
The minister said: “With MoneyGram, we will provide a valuable service to our customers, particularly in rural areas, who are not fully served by banks and other financial institutions, and it’s our intent to expand MoneyGram services to more post offices as quickly as possible.”
The two companies are now preparing joint marketing initiatives in several Indian states to support the roll out of money transfer services. One campaign running this month and next will see free alarm clocks handed out for consumer customers while stocks last.
Some of the key countries where Indian expats are likely to benefit from the expanded MoneyGram services will include the US, UAE and UK, as well as Canada, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
Harsh Lambah, the senior regional director for South Asia at MoneyGram, said: “Our relationship with India Post, and the planned growth of MoneyGram’s presence in India Post locations, is a clear sign of the value that the two organisations bring to businesses and consumers across the country.”
MoneyGram, which has 267,000 agent locations in 192 countries and territories, with retailers and financial institutions on its network as well as postal operators, works through post offices in Canada, Bulgaria, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova and the UK.
The company launched its services in the first 100 India Post locations last autumn.
