- Ripple may be able to ease cross-border payments to and from India, according to State Bank of India
- Company has been pushing international money transfer solutions xRapid and xCurrent
- India is a huge opportunity for Ripple
Ripple may be taking half of the Indian remittance market very soon, according to reports.
A possible partnership with the State Bank of India will help the fintech and crypto platform's growth within the country. The central bank is looking into adopting Ripple's remittance solutions to reduce the time it takes for international money transfers to go through. It currently takes days for deposits coming from abroad to reflect in Indian bank accounts and Ripple's presence in the country will ease the burden of expensive and slow money transfer solutions.
The possibility of a partnership with the bank is a result of Ripple's aggressiveness in pushing for the adoption of its platforms – xRapid and xCurrent – in the Indian banking sector. However, it's not just the state bank that is interested in partnering with the firm. Kotak Mahindra, one of India's major banks, recently announced its plans to add over 1,000 branches on RippleNet.
The gradual adoption of new technology to ease money transfer transactions may be due in part to the massive growth of India's finance sector. But based on data from 2017, this is likely because of the $69bn of remittances that entered the country last year and the need for a cost-effective solution to accommodate said transfers.
Ripple reportedly saw this growth as it started renting an office in Mumbai in 2017 so it could seal the deal on new partnerships in the country.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said: "Improving remittances services into and out of India means less fees and more money for families who rely on those funds that are sent home.”
He added: “This trend is increasing across payment providers and banks inside and outside of the country – further underscoring the mounting opportunity in remittances to India from around the world."
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