Muthoot Group to foray into money transfer biz

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Muthoot Group (TMG), an M George enterprise that is present across different verticals including non-banking financial services, real estate, equity trading and information technology, among others, will soon venture into the money transfer business.

TMG joint managing director George Jacob Muthoot told ET that the company was already in possession of a licence for the money transfer business and that operations would be launched ���within a few weeks���.

He said the international money transfer business had been a preserve of a few players and that his company had got a licence through a US-based associate, and that the group would thereby make an entry into the US market as well. However, the business operations in the US would initially be limited to remittances into India from the NRI population there, Mr Muthoot said.

TMG is presently in the money transfer business on a franchisee basis, offering the strength of its branch network for leading international money transfer companies, and will now move up the value chain in this business when it launches its own money transfer business.

Officials said the remittances into India had not shown any decline despite the global slowdown and that remittances into the country through the TMG network had in fact grown 40-45% in the past year.

Mr Muthoot said the group was doing well in its other operations including gold loans and real estate. He said TMG was holding 50 tonnes of gold in its lockers, which was estimated to be 5% of all gold held in lockers in the country.

TMG���s non-banking financial services business has seen sharp growth in recent years, officials said, adding that 400 branches had been opened recently to take the total branch network to 1,400, of which 900 were in the four southern states.

The group has also launched new residential property projects in recent months, despite the challenging conditions in the market. Officials said the group���s track record of prompt delivery and trustworthiness had helped it to stay on top of a declining realty market.