EbixCash World Money's perpetual RBI licence brings trade and family remittances within reach of millions

EbixCash World Money Limited became the first Authorised Dealer Category-II (AD-II) entity in India to be granted a perpetual RBI licence with an expanded scope of permitted activities, a regulatory milestone no other AD-II player in the country has achieved*. The upgrade follows a landmark revision to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) framework in May 2026, under which the RBI opened trade remittances of up to ₹25 lakh, and family maintenance remittances, to AD-II entities for the first time*.

For an industry where trade remittance has been the exclusive preserve of banks and AD-I institutions, this is a structural shift. EbixCash World Money, already one of India's largest AD-II network*, is now the first non-bank entity in its category authorised to carry that flow, reaching the MSMEs that banks have historically underserved.

Why this changes the game

India's MSME exporters and importers have long faced a bottleneck: sending or receiving payment for goods abroad required a full banking relationship, often with slower turnaround and heavier documentation. EbixCash World Money's upgrade removes that bottleneck. Backed by a licence built for permanence rather than renewal cycles, the company is positioned to become the fastest, most accessible route for cross-border MSME payments in India.

“This is the moment where nearly three decades of building trust with the regulator pays off. We are the first AD-II in India to be handed this licence, and we don't take that lightly. It's RBI's endorsement of everything we've built in governance, compliance, and customer protection since 1999. We don't just want to participate in India's digital payments story, we intend to help shape it. With 100+ branches in 70+ cities and a presence at 20+ international airports, we're taking this capability directly to where India's exporters and importers already are.”
— TC Guruprasad, Managing Director & CEO, EbixCash World Money Limited

“A perpetual licence isn't handed out lightly, and an expanded activity scope on top of it is rarer still. Being first carries weight, every trade remittance we process under this licence will set the benchmark for how the rest of the industry is expected to operate.”
— Himanshu Pramanick, Chief Compliance Officer, EbixCash World Money Limited

This upgrade lands on an infrastructure stack EbixCash World Money has spent years assembling: RBI approval to maintain Nostro accounts — historically a bank-only capability — letting it settle cross-border transactions directly rather than through correspondent banks, plus Principal Membership of both Visa and Mastercard, issuing multicurrency prepaid travel cards across 12+ currencies*. Together with the new mandate, these give the company one of the most complete non-bank cross-border payment stacks in India — from settlement, to remittance, to spend.

More than forex: A payments fintech at national scale

While best known for foreign exchange, EbixCash World Money today operates as one of India's most comprehensive integrated payments and forex platforms, a “phygital” model combining digital platforms with one of the country's largest physical distribution networks. It facilitates more than 75% of India's cash-to-cash inward remittances and a substantial share of outward remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, supported by 25,000+ touchpoints and 40+ partner banks¹. According to the company, it was also the first Authorised Dealer and fintech in India to enable real-time payments to the UK via the Faster Payments Service and to Europe via SEPA Instant, and recently secured a GIFT City Payment Service Provider licence.

The phygital advantage

At the heart of the company's model is what it calls ‘phygital’, a fusion of digital platforms and physical, human-assisted service. A customer can order foreign currency online, then still walk into a branch or an airport counter minutes before a flight for face-to-face guidance. Behind the scenes, the ecosystem runs on treasury automation, API-driven bank connectivity, and AI-powered fraud detection and transaction monitoring.

A market opportunity hiding in plain sight

India's MSME and SME sectors transact billions of dollars in cross-border trade every year, yet remain among the most underpenetrated segments for formal, fast, transparent international payments. With trade remittances of up to ₹25 lakh now within its licensed scope, EbixCash World Money can serve this segment directly, without the friction of a full banking relationship, while its family maintenance capability extends that reach to millions of Indian households with dependents abroad¹. Its network, 100+ branches across 70+ cities, plus 20+ international airports, gives it a reach few non-bank players can match.

EbixCash World Money's story is inseparable from India's own economic opening. Following the 1991 liberalisation reforms, its cross-border payments lineage began in 1992, as India's forex sector shifted from a bank-only domain to one where regulated non-bank players could participate. Formally established in 1999 as a Full Fledged Money Changer, it was upgraded to AD-II status in 2008, and went on to open the country's first non-bank Nostro account and build the UPI payments solution used by foreign nationals at the 2023 G20 India Summit. Today's perpetual AD-II licence is the latest chapter, putting a capability liberalisation first made possible into the hands of the MSMEs and families who need it.

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Note(*): The claims are based on information provided by the brand and could not be verified from the RBI reference document shared.

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