Western Union open to acquisition in India

Sitting on a cash balance of $1.5 billion, money transfer firm Western Union today said that it is open to acquisition in India. "We are very bullish on the Indian market. We are open to acquisition in this market, but nothing is in the pipeline," Western Union's regional vice president (India) Kiran Shetty told PTI.

Western Union has the largest network among the money transfer firms in India, spanning over 54,000 locations across the country. The company has also tied up with microfinance institutions and e-governance service providers to enhance its presence.

"We are a leader in payment services and want to continue to maintain our position in the coming years. If a company brings synergy to our existing operations, we are open to acquire that. We are sitting on a cash balance of $1.5 billion," Shetty said.

Remittances to India were at $50 billion in 2008 and is likely to go up to $52 billion in the current year, according to the estimates made by the World Bank. The total foreign direct investment to India was to the tune of $33 billion in 2008.  

Western Union has strong presence in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Southern states, but intends to jack up presence in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka since there were plenty of opportunities for growth. On an averaje, rural India contributes to 60% of its business.

"There is lot of opportunities in the rural areas across the country and we intend to focus our distribution in those areas in the coming days. This will help us to increase out share in the market," Shetty said.

Western Union, which follows January-December accounting year, had achieved eight per cent growth in revenue and 16% in transactions in the third quarter of 2009 in India as compared to the same quarter last year.

In the second quarter of the year, the money transfer firm had registered an 11% growth in revenue and 27% in transactions, year-on-year.