TransferWise Enters India, Aims To Disrupt International Currency Exchange

Started by two Estonian IT experts, online Currency Trading Platform TransferWise is about to officially set foot in India.

Global internet platform TransferWise, which coordinates currency exchanges between individuals, had recently started offering the Indian Currency, Rupee for exchange with multiple foreign currencies. Started in 2011, the company is already proving a tough rival to Banks as the latter are unable to match the rates offered by the startup.

What does TransferWise offer? TransferWise offers international money transfers for a fee of just one British Pound (equivalent to 1.2 Euros, or US$ 1.6) for all transfers under £200 and 0.5% for everything above. Banks on the other hand are known to charge a much higher rate which sometimes goes as high as 10 times which TransferWise charges.

Needless to say, owing to such low rates, TransferWise is doing roaring business and exchanging currencies of value more than 1 Million Pound Per Day! This disruptive practices have earned the platform 2013 World Summit Award (WSA), a United Nations-backed prize for outstanding web-based business innovations. Besides, business magnate Richard Branson too has applauded the platform saying,

“They are dramatically lowering the cost of transferring money overseas, by effectively matching people and companies in different countries who want the opposite currency,”

Transfer of Currency between individuals is a quite common exercise. Multiple Indians engage in the practice of either sending or receiving foreign currencies depending on the requirement. This routinely entitles a huge ‘Processing Fees’ levied by the Banks. This is because the currency actually leaves the country, albeit electronically.

Co–founder Hinrikus managed to ensure that the transfers could take place without the currency leaving the country. He explains via an example,

“A customer in Britain who wants to send money home to Estonia can put their pounds on a TransferWise account. The company then spots a customer in Estonia who wants to send an equivalent amount of money to the UK.”

Monetary Transactions are intelligently sorted via algorithms developed by founders Hinrikus and Tallinn. The platform’s official entry in India should help a lot of individuals save a significant amount in the Transfer Charges. What do you think?

Source | ToI

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