Money transfer fintech Wise is set to take on India's banks in the country's $32 billion remittance market after securing a new licence from the RBI.
The UK-based firm has briefly stopped accepting new customers in India as it revamps its infrastructure after getting a license from the Reserve Bank of India that permits the app’s users to send more money overseas.
Previously, outbound payments from India via Wise were capped at $5000 per transaction. The new licence means that Wise has had to upgrade back-end processes to comply with tax and reporting rules, according to Bloomberg.
Outbound remittances from India hit $32 billion in the 12 months to March 2024, up from $27 billion a year earlier.
Shrawan Saraogi, Asia Pacific head of expansion, Wise, tells Bloomberg: “We will be primarily focusing on cross-border movement that’s currently almost entirely done by banks.”
Adds Saraogi: "We think we can be a pretty meaningful player in that market because we will launch a product that will be fast, that will be cheap, that will be transparent."