Wise, a global online money transfer service, is set to restart onboarding new customers in India for overseas remittances, according to Bloomberg.
The fintech had temporarily paused new sign-ups to overhaul its infrastructure following the receipt of a license from the Reserve Bank of India, allowing its users to send more money abroad.
Since 2020, Wise has facilitated outbound payments from India through a bank partnership, but transactions were previously capped at US$5,000 each.
This limitation has now been removed, a Wise spokesperson confirmed.
Before bringing on new customers, Wise is upgrading its backend processes to ensure compliance with the new Authorized Dealer 2 license requirements, including tax and reporting obligations.
India currently imposes a 20% levy on most individual outbound remittances.
According to Shrawan Saraogi, Wise’s Asia Pacific Head of Expansion, the company plans to resume customer onboarding within the next few months.
Saraogi emphasized that India holds considerable potential in the remittance market, with Wise aiming to capture a larger share of the cross-border payments sector, which is currently dominated by major banks like ICICI Bank and State Bank of India.
India’s outbound remittance market has seen substantial growth, with US$32 billion remitted in the 12 months leading up to March 2024, up from US$27 billion the previous year, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India.
The remittances were primarily for travel, education, and family support.
Wise’s Asia-Pacific operations contributed about a fifth of the company’s global revenue for the financial year ending March 2024, making it the second-largest region after Europe, excluding the UK.
With its lower fees, averaging 65 basis points globally, Wise is positioning itself as a competitive alternative to traditional banks in India.
Saraogi noted that Wise aims to establish a strong presence in the market by providing a service that is efficient, competitively priced, and transparent.
