Financial services firm UAE Exchange India is hoping to get a small banking licence and is working on expansion plans for the current fiscal.
As part of the expansion, the company plans to hire 700 employees during the current fiscal year and expand its network by 250-300 branches in the next 5 years.
Earlier, it had focused the entire business on remittances and foreign exchange services. It is now expanding the reach to focus on small-size loans to target financial inclusion.
"UAE Exchange India decided that financial inclusion is an important parameter which was missing in our offerings and it was the only parameter why we failed to receive a banking license last time. We have started offering small-sized personal loans, two-wheeler loans and gold loans," said V George Antony, Managing Director of UAE Exchange India.
"We have moved into the domestic loan business and are very focused on it. We realised that if you really want to be in the financial sector, you have to be in the credit business. The average amount of loans that we are offering is Rs 50,000 and there is a lot of demand for it. As of now, our total loan book size, including gold loans, is around Rs 500 crore," he said.
The company's plan is to double the personal loan book size year on year. Before starting the loan vertical, the revenue mix was 50% from the foreign exchange business, 30% from money transfer and 20% from the travel and tour business.
With the new focus on loan disbursement, it contributes to about 38% of total revenue. Forex is 38% and the money transfer business has come down to 15%. Travel contributes only 9%.
To strengthen the financial inclusion drive, apart from offering loans, the company is looking at getting into the e-wallet space and plans to announce the roll out soon. They have also rolled out e-KYC recently, reducing time and cost for the new accounts.
Currently, UAE Exchange India has a network of 400 branches across India and plans to add over 50 branches every year. In 2014-15, it had Rs 30 crore in net profit. It is aiming a growth rate of 20-25% for the next fiscal.
