UK fintech Wise has announced plans to begin enrolling new customers in India for international money transfers.
According to Bloomberg, Wise aims to capture a larger share of India’s $32bn remittance market. This move follows a period of halting new client sign-ups to upgrade its infrastructure.
With its new licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Wise is now able to facilitate larger international money transfers. The company plans to start onboarding new clients again in the coming months, as stated by Shrawan Saraogi, Wise’s Head of Asia Pacific Expansion.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Saraogi said: “India is a huge market for remittance. We will be primarily focusing on cross-border movement that’s currently almost entirely done by banks.”
RBI data shows that Indians sent approximately $32bn abroad in the year leading up to March 2024, an increase from $27bn the previous year. The majority of these remittances were used for travel, education, and family support.
Since 2020, Wise has provided outbound payment services from India through a banking partnership, previously limited to $5,000 per transaction. However, this cap is now lifted, a spokesperson told Bloomberg.
In a related matter, Wise has recently highlighted banks’ high fees for currency exchange. According to its study, banks are hiding marked-up rates from customers, which it believes is to blame for the breakdown in trust from the public.
As mentioned above, before reintroducing new customers, Wise is enhancing its backend systems to meet tax and reporting requirements stipulated by the new Authorised Dealer 2 licence. Additionally, India imposes a 20% tax on most individual outbound remittances.
In recent years, Wise has seen significant growth in its customer base. The company’s Q3 results in January showed a 40% rise in income to £375.1m, attributing this boost to the expansion of “multi-feature customers.” Active users also grew by 30% year-over-year, reaching 7.5 million, largely due to increased adoption of the Wise Account and the utilisation of multiple features.
It’s no surprise that the UK fintech is keen to enter the Indian market, given its rapid growth potential. According to a study by Kearney and Amazon Pay, India’s retail digital payments market is expected to soar to $7 trillion by 2030, a remarkable increase from just $300bn in 2018.
