Indian Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Accelerates Cross-Border Remittances with RippleNet

Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) announced that it will use San Francisco-based blockchain company Ripple’s settlement solution, xCurrent. Ripple's product, xCurrent, will help Kotak Mahindra bank provide its customers with real-time cross-border transactions in a safe and secure manner.

Ripple is leading enterprise blockchain network (RippleNet) to provide impetus to its inward cross-border remittances. RippleNet claimed to be only enterprise blockchain solution for global payments.

xCurrent is the name of Ripple's enterprise software and is used for processing cross-border payments.  xCurrent uses Ripple's software that allows banks to instantly settle cross-border payments and end to end tracking. xCurrent helps banks message each other to confirm payment details before sending the actual transaction.

xCurrent will enable Kotak to reduce the average time associated with remittance payments, to minutes, versus several days. It will instantly settle cross-border payments. The entire transaction process will be tracked from end-to-end.

xCurrent will help Kotak bank's customer to make regular, small inward payments at lower fees. The advantage of lower cost will be passed on to bank's customers.

Chief Digital Officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Deepak Sharma said, “We harness new technologies to simplify and enhance banking services for our customers. xCurrent ticks all the boxes and enables us to offer our customers a more transparent and efficient global payments service using blockchain. Joining RippleNet also expands our payment network globally by allowing us to connect with other members,”.

Managing Director of South Asia and MENA at Ripple, Navin Gupta said: “The payments problem is a global problem, particularly for those in emerging markets trying to send regular, low-value remittances overseas. Kotak Mahindra Bank can offer its retail customers a step-change improvement in their inward remittance experience thanks to xCurrent, and we look forward to connecting them to other RippleNet members to expand their global remittance offering.”

The huge growth of remittances market in India presents a significant opportunity. In 2017-18, Indian market inward remittances stood at USD 69 billion while outbound remittance market stood at USD 11.3. This is 38.7% growth of outward remittances from USD 8.2 billion in 2016-17, the announcement noted.

In November 2017, another Indian bank Axis Bank went live using xCurrent and in February of this year, IndusInd announced they would join the RippleNet community.

Ripple has already established a Mumbai office in 2017.  It also began partnering with financial institutions across the country to improve access to services for consumers and businesses.