The world economy may show signs of recovery as some experts put it, while others say that recovery is still some time away, but remittances, they are still at earlier levels and in some countries growing at a faster pace. Take for example Kenya and Bangladesh, the two countries have recorded a healthy gorwth rate of 8.4% and 30% !!

There are no indicators of a slow down in remittance, since the months prior have also shown a growth patterns. The Bangladeshi  fiscal year end in June pegged the remittance growth at 22.3% higher as compared to the last year.

Now, with this backdrop other countries are also striving to increase the remittance flows. Such efforts are visible from the recently concluded conclave of Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis, Ministry of Finance and State Bank of Pakistan to double inward remittances. In the Philippines, The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Association of Bank Remittance Officers (ABROI) have agreed in principle to reduce fees on fund transfers.

These indicator and efforts reflect the jubiliant move towards increasing remittances and generate greater liquidity in the times of recession.

If you were to play tag then there could hardly be a better combination than Western Union and India, one has a presence in 200 countries with a history of 150 years in the business which makes is very attractive option for money transfer globally and on the other hand is the country which tops remittance receipts globally.

The combination complements both Western Union which currently has over 50,000 agent locations in India, giving them the reach to effectively service the remitters needs, India on the other hand benefits from receipts from all the major remittance origination countries as these are also covered by Western Union.

In an interview, WU MD for South & South East Asia, mentioned that the Indian entity’s revenue grew by 19% and the transactions grew by 42% (remember the advertising campaigns of ‘Yes’ which caught the eye across India sometime ago). He comments that limiting inward remittance cap to $2,500 per transaction with a maximum of 12 transactions per year (for Money Transfer Operators) is a hurdle which probably dampens India’s potential for receiving additional inward remittances.

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