Western Union Company to expand agent network

According to a release,the company strategy will see Western Union’s 54,000 strong India agent network grow to include the most extensive classes of trade to offer money transfer services in India from its current portfolio representing the postal,banks,retail and finance Agents. Western Union announced a tie-up with CMS Computers (CMS) Ltd which will be a sub-agent of Western Union’s primary agent Paul Merchant. CMS is into e-governance projects in India and has established more than 9,000 citizen service centres in different states to facilitate various government and business services to citizens.

“To ensure that our customers can access money transfer services wherever and whenever they need it,we have made a strategic decision to facilitate as many classes of trade. Our customers will have the choice of either using a post office,a bank,a retail store and now,an e-governance centre,” said Kiran Shetty,regional vice president for Western Union in India. “Ensuring we have a presence where it makes most relevance to our customers is a critical part of this expansion strategy”,he said.

CMS has the central government’s mandate to roll out more than 17,000 e-governance locations across India as part of the e-governance agenda,which primarily targets rural citizens. CMS’s network has rural penetration in key states such as Maharashtra,Gujarat,Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.