Timesofmoney plans to double reach by FY12-end

Online remittances player Timesofmoney plans to nearly double its network to 60 countries this fiscal.

"We are serving non-resident Indians (NRIs) in 24 countries and serve the diaspora of ten other countries, providing them the opportunity to repatriate money back to their homes," the ten-year-old company's President Avijit Nanda said.

He added that by March, 2012, the company plans to take the number of countries it serves NRIs in to 40, as well as add ten to the number of countries where it caters to the non-Indian diaspora.

The company has the necessary tie-ups domestically to help the money reach the final beneficiary, but has to make a new tie-up each time it serves a member of the non-NRI diaspora.

It prefers to enter relatively untapped markets that have a sizable Indian diaspora, Nanda said, adding that last year, Indians remitted $55 billion and only 20% of it was through the online medium.

The company's service, called remit2india, accounts for 60% of the company's revenues, while 30% comes from tie-ups with Indian banks to offer remittance platforms and 10% from the domestic business of merchant acquisition for e-commerce transactions, he said.

Nanda, however, declined to specify the revenues of the company, since it is a private limited company, limiting himself to saying that it is a profitable venture which has shown a compounded annual growth of 25% in revenues over the past five years.

When asked about the investment on expansion, he said typically, the company allocates around a quarter of its yearly revenues toward growth investment and that will continue even this year.

"A majority of the investment goes into marketing and intellectual property creation functions," he said.

Presently, the biggest chunk of remittances happens through the bank wire transfer route, Nanda said, adding that it is expensive compared to the online medium.

On the domestic front, Timesofmoney, which belongs to the Times Group, is in talks with American Express, besides Visa and MasterCard, for a payment gateway that will help customers, Nanda said.