NEW YORK: The company will not only expand its network of agents in India but also introduce new products and services, according to William D. Thomas, president, the Americas, Western Union. "We really started the money transfer business in India just three years ago and now it has grown to become the top market for us after China," Thomas told IANS. "We are now going to introduce new products and services to provide real value to our customers and also expand our agent location network so that we are close to our customers' homes," he said. He listed bank deposit products, prepaid cell phones and Internet money transfer as products and services that are being looked at by Western Union for introduction in India. Thomas said the Indian community figured among the top 10 markets for Western Union in the U.S. and added that in terms of growth it was the fastest. He said the addition of a new agent location in Richmond Hill in Queens, New York, which was the 18th in the area, was to make it convenient for the Indian community to do business with Western Union. "It is located in the heart of the Indian community and we will look at similar expansion." Anil Kapur, the company's regional director for South Asia, said Western Union had expanded its agent locations in India from just 2,500 in 250 cities toward the end of 2001 to 13,000 in 1,200 cities today. "The business is growing significantly, and we will be expanding further to 14,000 locations in 1,500 cities by the end of this year," he said adding that the company also had tie-ups with 4,500 post offices, regional government banks to help customers. He explained that within the Indian market, Punjab was the largest market for Western Union. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat also had a significant share, he added. Kapur said the introduction of the Web-based money transfer business by some companies would not eat into the Western Union's business plans. The bulk of the company's customers in the U.S., Britain and Middle East -- the three principal markets -- were blue collar workers whose families and relatives had no access to the Internet in India, he explained. Kapur also said Bangladesh was another market under his domain, which was fast expanding. "We have a presence in around 100 locations in some of the key cities like Dhaka. We also have a tie-up with the National Bank of Bangladesh and the Arab Bangladesh Bank. This is another market we will be focusing on."
Source: IANS