Suneeti Ahuja Kohli

Immigrant workers, from time immemorial, have come to the Gulf region either for work to support their families back home, enjoy a better lifestyle

or simply for greener pastures on the career front. Whatever might be the reason, the immigrant In-dian population has consistently grown over the years and contrib-uted to both the economies.

According to World Bank Statis-tics, around 27 million Indians live outside their home country. Of this, over six million expatriates are in the Gulf region. The small bundles of money sent home by this sizeable expatriate population amounted to $64 billion in 2011, making India the highest receiver of remittances in the world as per the World Bank data. This figure is up from $58 billion registered in the previous year.

The amount remitted every year is steadily increasing. Known to the world as a financially savvy and saving-centric population, the Indian expatriate community sensed opportunity to make gains with the recent weakness in rupee and attractive interest rates on de-posits rates in India. As per the fig-ures released by the Reserve Bank of India recently, the country re-ceived $11.2 billion in remittances in April 2012 compared with just $508 million in April 2011. This is vital foreign exchange for the

country, as its growth engines slowly seem to be losing puff amidst the limping global econo-my. To encourage higher remit-tances, the central bank of India has increased the number of re-mittances that can be received by a beneficiary in India to 30 from 12 earlier.

Last year, the Bank of Baroda remitted more than Rs4 billion to India through its various channels, says KV Rama Moorthy, Chief Ex-ecutive Officer, bank of Baroda. “Times have really changed. We now have faster and more secure means to remit money to India. Earlier people would rely on hand-to-hand transfers through indi-viduals who visit their homeland. But now, with the availability of bank branches almost everywhere in the country, people rely more on banks. Banks are by far the fastest and the safest modes of sending money home,” added Moorthy.

The Indian rupee has weakened by around 13 per cent since Febru-ary this year. While the current state of the Indian rupee does not bode well for its economy, it has certainly brought a smile to the In-dian expatriate community settled around the world. A number of In-dian immigrant workers in the last few months have remitted more money than usual. “As with most industries, remittances also un-dergo cyclical changes, and are dependent on several factors. One

Make it countRemit money through banks and certified money exchange and transfer houses to

ensure it reaches safely in the right hands

According to World Bank Statistics, around 27 million Indians live outside their home country. Of this, over six million expatriates are in the Gulf region.

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of them is the exchange rate fluc-tuation, and consumers always try and leverage a favourable ex-change rate to their advantage.

After the dip in the last couple of years, we are now seeing positive growth trends in this key market,” says Ananth Srivatsa, Director – Marketing, Middle East and South Asia, MoneyGram International.

Remittances to India are sensi-tive to the exchange rate, a top of-ficial at Western Union Financial Services agrees. “Remittances to the Indian subcontinent are get-ting stronger as we speak. We have seen some interesting trends in the last five months. The Indian rupee has fallen from 13 to 15.4 in the last few months, triggering a surge in the amount of money that is usually remitted to the country,” says Sobia Rahman, Re-gional Vice President, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Gulf, Western Union Financial Services.

According to the trends noticed by the money transfer major, there is an element of seasonality in the remittance business too. “We are indeed in interesting times right now because of the weak state of the Indian currency. However, there are special times as well, like the Holy Month of Ra-madan, when immigrants, irre-spective of the exchange rate, transfer more money back home,” says Rahman. “Remittances are not investments that can be held for a month or two. People work-ing here send money to their fam-ilies every month to ensure that there is food on their table, their children are able to go to good schools and enjoy a better life.”

Adeeb Ahamed, CEO, Lulu In-ternational Exchange agrees, “The depreciating rupee value though might be seen as an oppor-tunity by the Indian expatriates to send more money to India, the

normal remittance made to India for family maintenance remains stable.”

Bankers and the financial sector majors, however, have a word of advice. “Immigrant workers, es-pecially the ones with blue-col-lared jobs, rely on unsecured means to send money home. We have seen a trend where a catego-ry of workers in the UAE survive on 25 per cent of their salary and send the rest home to support families. We would suggest that people should be wary of such means. Before parting with your hard earned money, ensure that the channel is safe. There is no point in saving a few dirhams if your hard earned money does not reach the family,” says Rahman.

Western Union, Rehman points out, is one of the safest and the most secure ways to transfer mon-ey. With more than 500,000 branches globally and stringent protocols in place, it is easy to send money anywhere in the world with the assurance that it will reach the one it is intended for.

Moorthy from the Bank of Bar-oda agrees, “People who do not have bank accounts remit money through various channels which are risk prone. The Government of India and Reserve Bank of In-dia are working hard on financial inclusion to ensure that banking facilities reach to the unbanked areas in India and every family gets a bank account. I, therefore, think that people should open bank accounts and remit money through the banking channels that are secure, legal and fastest way of remitting money to India.”

— suneeti@khaleejtimes.com

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It’s once-in-a-lifetime opportuni-ty, especially for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to invest back home in property, as rupee depre-ciation against the dollar will give more than 20 per cent discount to buyers, according to Navin M. Ra-heja, Chairman and Managing Director of Raheja Developers.

In addition to rupee deprecia-tion, there is another big advan-tage of very high return on invest-ment as there is a history of a significant increase in property value during the last three de-cades in India, Raheja told Kha-leej Times in an interview during his recent visit to Dubai.

“There will be at least 25 per cent appreciation in property price that could go up to 40 per cent or more on average annually, depending on the location of the property in the next few years,” Raheja said, who is also founder of Raheja Developers.

Historically, the return on in-vestment in property sector had been the highest in real terms during the last four decades com-pared to other investment tools in India such as stocks, fixed depos-its in banks, and even gold, he said, adding: “Therefore, in the coming years growth rate in prop-erty will be probably higher than in the past.”

Talking about rupee’s free fall, he said there is an invisible dis-count of more than 20 per cent to

property buyers because of ru-pee’s decline against the dollar and UAE dirham as well for NRIs. Just a few months ago, the rupee was at 44 or 45 against the US dollar and now it’s over Rs55.

By doing simple mathematics there is an inbuilt discount of over 20 per cent and the investor will benefit out of it. “I don’t think the rupee will stay at this level for a long period of time, so it’s a life-time opportunity for NRIs to in-vest back home in property and get the advantage of rupee depre-ciation,” he said.

He mentioned that there is a huge gap between supply and de-mand in the property sector and the demand will continue to rise in the next two to three decades

as India has so many people and the largest bank of young people. Owning a house is a basic need of a human being and one of the ne-cessities, so people will continue to look for home in addition to other services in the country,” he added.

Raheja, who is also Chairman of National Real Estate Develop-ment Council (Naredco), said NRIs should be very careful while investing in the property sector in India. They should look at credi-bility, track record, capacity to execute and complete the project and financial position of the de-veloper, Raheja advises NRIs as a Chairman of Naredco — the apex national body for the real estate industry.

There is an invisible discount of over 20 per cent to property buyers because of the rupee’s decline against the dollar

cONTINUED fROm pREvIOUS pAgE

High return on investment

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LuLu ExchangE

LuLu International Exchange, which completes three years of its successful operations in the UAE on September 12, is one of the youngest exchange houses in the country. It has 14 branches spread across the UAE in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. Although the company is predominantly a re-mittance company, it also offers a host of other value-added services and thus acts as a one-stop solu-tion for the customers.

The company has joined hands with almost all major banks world-wide to provide a smooth, stream-lined and hassle-free service to its customers. Adeeb Ahamed, CEO – LuLu International Exchange says, “We are also in the process of identifying new markets to expand our business.”

The company is rapidly growing and evolving at the same time to adapt itself to the changing times. Customers prefer LuLu Exchange as it has been providing the most competitive exchange rate cou-pled with quick and reliable ser-vices. The LuLu brand name also plays its part as customers’ pre-ferred choice, as it is associated with the parent company, which has carried the tradition of trust and reliability over the past three decades.

On the strategic advantage and challenges of being a part of the larger business group, Ahamed says, “To be under the umbrella of such a large and successful busi-ness group is a great advantage.

Remittance company with global reachThe exchange house is a one-stop shop solution for its customers and carries the trust and reliability of its parent company

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With over 27 million Indians spread across the world, the re-mittance sector in India has been consistently upbeat over the last few years. As of 2011, India was the highest receiver of foreign remittances in the world receiv-ing over US$58 billion beating China. Being a leading brand in the remittance business, Xpress Money has been observing these trends very keenly.

Ever since the Indian economy was liberalised in 1991, remit-tance to India through official channels has seen a tremendous fillip. RBI’s recent announce-ment increasing the number of NRI remittances to India from 12 to 30 will be a tremendous boost for the formal channels of money transfer. The earlier RBI regulation of only 12 transac-tions a year averaged out to one transaction per month; however, with the number of transactions going up to 30, Indian expats will be free to send remittances to India more frequently — as and when they want. Not only is

this latest regulation beneficial to both customers and business-es who are a part of the remit-tance industry, it’s also a positive move to safeguard and stabilise the rupee.

Add to this the fact that India remains one of the most resilient economies in the world, showing an upwards of 7 per cent growth rate annually in the face of glob-al economic crisis; this stability is what makes remittance to In-dia very attractive, and we have seen that sentiment being echoed in the huge Indian diaspora that Xpress Money serves across 125 countries in the world.

Speaking about the remittance trends that are noticeable amongst NRIs sending money to India, Sudhesh Giriyan, Head – Xpress Money Business said, “As a culture, India is a country that loves to save and its people are risk averse. We are also very fo-cused on investing for the future; hence, NRIs send money to In-dia in order to build a secure fi-

nancial future in their homeland. Whether the remitted money is used to maintain families, pay for children’s education, build real estate or is used in other in-vestments — we like to invest at home first, before looking at in-vestments abroad and we believe that this is a trend that will not change.”

Xpress Money recently an-nounced a flat fee of Dh15 for remittances of any denomina-tions to India by discontinuing its earlier slab system of differ-ential pricing based on the amount being transferred. By combining effective manage-ment of exchange rates with an affordable transfer fee of Dh15, Xpress Money is confident of of-fering the best rates to its cus-tomers. With over 35,000 loca-tions across India, Xpress Money is one of the fastest growing money transfer companies in the country and works with some of the largest banks and non-bank-ing financial companies in In-dia.

Xpress money serves a huge Indian diaspora across 125 countries in the world

xprEss MonEy

> GOOD TIME TO CONVERT TO RUPEES

Best rates to customers

While we enjoy the infrastructural support, the expectations of great-

er achievements and success add to the challenge.”

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Last few months have been joyous for Indian expatriates, worldwide. As the value of the Indian rupee went down, excitement among the Indian diaspora found a new ze-nith. De-regularisation of NRI in-terest rates in December 2011 brought much cheer to Indian ex-patriates. The status of the Indian rupee in 2012, so far, (a whopping 13 per cent low) has only widened the grin on their faces.

Around 27 million Indians live outside their motherland in across 190 countries, of which over six million expatriates are in the Gulf. Together they ensured that $64 billion was sent to India as remit-tance in 2011, sustaining its posi-tion as the highest receiver of re-mittances as per the World Bank statistics. The ‘remittance to India’ graph has been steep in 2012 too. The falling rupee encouraged In-dians to send more money home. Once they ran out of their money to send home, they turned to the bankers, who have happily opened their coffers for loan applicants.

The counters of remittance houses also have been quite busy helping Indians to remit money. One of the brands trusted by this enterprising community is UAE Exchange. This leading global re-mittance and foreign exchange brand, a favourite among the ex-patriates from the sub-continent, has been enabling them to send money home for over three de-

cades. They could send it from any of the easily accessible and widely networked branches, worldwide.

Xpress Money, the instant money transfer service with over 135,000 payout locations in more than 125 countries; FLASHremit, the real-time bank account credit service; Money2anywhere.com, the convenient online money transfer portal by which money can be sent to any corner of the world in just a few clicks from an internet environment anywhere;

Smart Pay, the WPS-compliant leading payroll solution; gocash, the prepaid travel card; and XPay, the online bill payment service using mobile phone, are some of the popular services offered by UAE Exchange. Along with these customers can also make pay-ments for their utility bills, credit card bills, school fee, subscrip-tions and more. All these made UAE Exchange a true financial supermarket.

But the remittance major hasn’t stopped there. It has walked the extra mile to ensure that its cus-tomers’ dear ones too could easily collect the money sent, from their nearest UAE Exchange branch in India. This was made possible with the network of branches built across the length and breadth of the country. This 280-plus strong network is the largest in a single country, among the entire global operations of UAE Exchange. So

no matter where the beneficiaries are, they will find a UAE Exchange branch near them. Adding to this is the brand’s strong correspon-dent relationship with over 30 banks in India, which added more convenience to the family mem-bers of the Indian expatriates.

UAE Exchange has a strong re-lationship with all the communi-ties that it serves, but has a special bond with the community from the world’s largest democracy. It has always shared their dreams and aspirations. To bring more value to them, the remittance ma-jor has lined up exciting promo-tions like Money Majlis, Onasowb-hagyam and more, which give out high value prizes like villas, cars, gold etc. These value-laden pro-motions have enabled the Indian expatriate community to realise their long-standing dreams.

India has always stood up against every challenge that has raised its hood and has emerged a winner. The nation derives its true strength from the strong val-ues that it has got in legacy from its rich culture and heritage. Sim-ilarly UAE Exchange too has strong values, from which it con-tinues to derive its strength to succeed. The remittance major is inspired by the zeal of India and reinforces its commitment to de-rive quality from values at all times, emerging successful — very much like India.

WEstErn union

uaE ExchangE

The Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services, announced it has opened the 500,000th agent location through which it provides its expanding portfolio of financial services. The network spans more than 200 countries and territories, and is a centrepiece of Western Union’s strategy to provide main-stream financial services — either cash, card or digitally-based — to consumers and businesses glob-ally. Western Union’s 500,000th location is “Freedom News” in New York City.

Western Union in the Middle East and Africa region witnessed a substantial development in its expansion of the number of touch points to reach over 38,000 agent locations in 66 countries across 7,000 cities, towns and villages. This includes over 1,540 agent locations in the GCC countries in 361 different cities and towns among them over 710 agent loca-tions in the UAE, spread over 43 cities and towns; all distributed through various banks, post of-fices and financial service compa-nies in both the public and private sector.

Hikmet Ersek, President and CEO Western Union said, “West-ern Union is changing quickly. Building on our strong global fun-damentals — our brand, agent network and regulatory expertise — we are creating a more dynam-ic organisation and product set focused on the underserved mar-ket, that is, economically viable consumers and businesses whose financial service needs are not be-ing met fully by other segments of the industry.”

“Our vision is to establish one million Western Union touch points in every corner of the globe where anyone, anywhere can

send a money transfer, pay bills, obtain and reload a prepaid card or pick up funds sent through a Western Union yellow phone or the Internet. We believe access to financial services is not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” concluded Ersek.

Western Union has been at the forefront of innovation with a fo-cus on increasing access to its money transfer service via digital and alternative channels. And to deliver on its commitment, West-ern Union has launched the ac-count-based money transfer ser-vice through which a bank’s accountholders can send money from their accounts online, from ATM machines, or from their mo-bile phones to one of more than 200 countries and territories around the world for cash payout. And in some countries, account holders can choose to receive funds send via Western Union di-rectly in their accounts, on a mo-bile phone or via an ATM.

“The Middle East and GCC markets play host to a large expa-triate population, and Western Union provides a crucial bridge back home for them,” said Jean Claude Farah, Western Union Senior Vice President Middle East and Africa. “It’s one of the most diverse markets in the world, with people from hun-dreds of countries from all walks of life residing here. We tailor our financial services according to the nature of the diverse eth-nography in the region, and go-ing by our success it seems that we are touching a chord across the board. Our continued expan-sion in this region reflects the growing trust and comfort that people have with using Western Union,” Farah added.

Remittances contribute to eco-nomic stability around the world, by serving as a critical source of foreign capital in many countries. Western Union is a leader in this $416 billion annual cross-border flow of resources, completing 226 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide and 425 million business payments in 2011.

Reaches 500,000 agent location milestonemiddle East and Africa Agent Network expands to over 38,000 locations

money remittance to India, a joyous affair

Jean Claude Farah

Our vision is to establish

one million Western Union touch points in every corner of the globe where anyone, anywhere can send a money transfer, pay bills, obtain and reload a prepaid card or pick up funds sent through a Western Union yellow phone or the Internet. We believe access to financial services is not a luxury, it’s a necessity

hikmet Ersek