MoneyGram announced today it has added the largest bank in India to its agent network.
The State Bank of India (SBI) joined hands with MoneyGram International (NYSE:MGI) and its principal agent Thomas Cook (India) Ltd (TCIL), to provide in-bound money transfer services across SBI's key branches.
Initially, the services will be made available in 100 SBI branches by year's end. The new partnership was announced at a press conference in Mumbai.
The relationship with SBI was aided by MoneyGram's key existing Super Agent, Thomas Cook (India) Pvt Ltd, and comes on the heels of India Post becoming a MoneyGram Super Agent in September.
According to The World Bank's Migration and Remittances Factbook 2011, India is the largest recipient country of remittances and the number two emigrating country in the world. Approximately $55 billion (USD) in remittances were sent to India last year.
"The State Bank of India has an extensive footprint within India, with nearly 13,000 locations across the country," said Dan O'Malley, MoneyGram executive vice president, Americas and Emerging Markets. "With SBI's local reach and our global network, we can deliver to our mutual customers the convenience of having more options for sending and receiving money."
MoneyGram has steadily been increasing the convenience for its customers to send and receive money to family and friends in India. MoneyGram offers a fast and reliable way to send money to any of its 34,000 locations across India.
Mr. Rajeev N. Mehra (CGM, SBI) noted, "With MoneyGram, our customers now have the added benefit of being able to receive money from abroad. We also have a long-standing relationship with Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. We are committed to offering our customers the best services and products available and this relationship reinforces this," Mr. Mehra added.
Mr. Madhavan Menon, MD at Thomas Cook said, "A partnership of three powerful customer-centric brands (SBI, MGI, and Thomas Cook) augurs well for our customers and the money transfer business as a whole. As a Super Agent for MoneyGram, adding the impressive network of State Bank of India to our extensive pan-India footprint will ensure increased access and facilitate ease in transactions for our customers, by bringing inward remittances right to their doorstep."