Western Union ties up with Spandana

Western Union, which is into money transfer services, on Wednesday entered into a strategic alliance with Guntur-based microfinance institution (MFI) Spandana to provide money transfer services in the semi-urban and rural parts across the state.

The tie-up is part of Western Union's focus on expanding its reach to the rural pockets and thereby enable rural masses to access the facility easily.

Under the arrangement, Spandana will initially leverage its network of 285 branches across the state to offer in-bound money transfer services to its around 1 million customers. It will later expand to Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Maharashtra during the next quarter, where the MFI has a presence.

"We expect 20 per cent of our customer base to benefit from this service and receive money from abroad," G Padmaja Reddy, managing director of Sphoorty Innovative Financial Services Limited (Spandana), told mediapersons.

Spandana plans to add 200 branches to the existing 350 across the five states this year, besides entering the West Bengal market by September.

The MFI is targeting a loan disbursement of Rs 1,100 crore this financial year, as against Rs 750 crore during the previous year.