The Hindu Business Line : Western Union-Bharti mobile money transfer service by year-end

New Delhi, Jan.8 Western Union, a global money transfer major, has said that its tie-up with Bharti Airtel for mobile money transfer could be operational by the end of the year.

“We had decided to jointly develop and pilot a mobile money transfer service in the country last year and it could be operational by the end of the year,” Executive Vice-President and Managing Director (Europe, West Asia, Africa, and South Asia), Mr Hikmet Ersek, said here..

The move is part of a global initiative by the GSM Association wherein 35 mobile operators, spread across 100 countries, will work towards enabling the world’s 200 million international migrant workers to easily and securely send remittances to their dependents.

50,000th location

Western Union also announced that it has launched its 50,000th location in India. “With the opening of the 50,000th location, India has surpassed US in terms of the company’s agent network,” Mr Ersek said after the inauguration of the agent location.

According to him, the company has 47,000 agent locations in US followed by 27,000 in China.

Western Union currently has a presence in around 5,000 cities and towns, 8,500 post offices, and 15,000 bank locations across the country.

“There is a lot of scope to increase money transfer business in the country as India receives $27 billion annually, which is the largest among the countries receiving remittances from abroad.

Generally we have also observed that the average size of each transaction is slightly over $350,” he said.

Biz in India

Mr Ersek added that the company’s money transfer business in India increased by about 69 per cent in 2006-07 and they are looking at increasing their presence in the country.

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