R-money eyes inorganic growth

Anil Ambani Group's financial services distribution arm Reliance Money Saturday said it is looking for potential acquisition opportunities in the fast growing money changing and money transfer businesses.

The combined market size of money changing and money transfer is estimated at about $34 billion.

Unveiling a new identity here for its money changing and money transfer businesses, the company said it was aiming to double its market share in this segment over next few years. "We are also looking at inorganic growth opportunities in these businesses for further expansion of these businesses," Reliance Money CEO Sudip Bandyopadhyay said.

Anil Ambani Group had acquired Travelmate Services, a part of Kuoni Group, in November 2006, which has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Capital. Travelmate has been in the Money Transfer Services (MTS) and Full-Fledged Money Changing (FFMC) business in the country since 1993.

The new brand identity for Travelmate Services, which would be now known as Reliance Money Express, was unveiled here by the Reliance Money CEO in the presence of the global MTS giant Western Union worldwide CEO Christina Gold. Travelmate is already one of the largest Western Union partner in India and now it plans to aggressively expand its reach in non-metro and smaller cities, the company said.

Elaborating on the potential of the MTS business in India, Bandyopadhyay said: "India is the largest recipient of global remittance of around $27 billion which is more than 10 per cent of the total global remittance inflow of $240 billion. This is continuously rising due to labour migration and increasing wages."

In addition, money changing market in India is worth $7 billion and is growing at an annual rate of 20 per cent.