Ripple Expands into India with new Mumbai Offices

San Francisco-based Ripple, FinTech startup is now opening an office in India, a major developing economy that is undergoing a transformation into a digital society. Navin Gupta will lead operations in the country, with multiple decades of experience in global banks including HSBC and Citibank. Gupta stated, “ “India is transforming itself into a digital economy and is an innovative leader in payments. Our new office in Mumbai, led by Navin, will allow us to respond to the rapidly-growing demand for frictionless payments by our current customers, Axis Bank and YES Bank, as well as other bank and non-banks across the country,” said CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

The government of India has previously announced a vision to transform the country into a digitally-empowered society and knowledge economy. Some predictIndia’s digital economy will reach $1 trillion by 2022, from $270 billion today. A key component of this forward-thinking vision includes the India Stack, an ongoing project to create a unified platform to bring India’s population, banks and payment providers into the digital age.

Navin Gupta said, “India is the largest recipient of corporate and retail remittances worldwide, totaling close to $71 billion. The businesses and Indian expatriates sending money into the country want their cross-border payments to be as fast and seamless as payments made within India’s domestic digital payment network. Why should a cross-border transfer take any longer than an electronic transfer within India?

“Ripple’s instant, cost-effective blockchain-powered payments can be a transformative component of India’s economy, helping bring the many who have limited access to payment services into the fold. We are committed to building our presence in this market with significant investment, and I look forward to expanding our local team with this vision.”