- Transcorp International began 31 years ago as a simple money changer and has since transformed into a digitally integrated payments platform that is now the largest non-bank entity in terms of transaction value for various payment networks in India. The company holds two licences from the Reserve Bank of India that most competitors do not - an Authorized Dealer Category II licence for foreign exchange and a perpetual Pre-Paid Payment Instrument licence - and it uses this regulatory standing to build full-stack card and wallet programs for marquee fintech companies, lenders and startups. The recurring approach is to secure a regulatory permission first, then build the technology platform on top of it, and finally partner with clients who need that infrastructure without wanting to build it themselves.
Business segments
Two engines at different stages - a steady foreign-exchange business that built the regulatory foundation, and a fast-scaling payments platform that is now the company's defining growth engine - both powered by the same RBI licences and network relationships.
1. Foreign exchange: the regulated cash cow that built the licence bank
An RBI-licensed dealer buys and sells foreign currency to travellers and businesses, earning a spread on every transaction - and the AD-II licence it holds is the reason the payments business exists at all.
- Earns the spread on currency - the company buys foreign currency at one rate and sells it at another, and also collects fees on outward remittances for overseas education, medical treatment and emigration, with inventory held in currencies including USD, EUR, GBP and JPY.
- A licence few non-banks hold - the AD-II licence was recently empowered to facilitate trade-related inward and outward remittances, a function previously reserved exclusively for banks, which opens a new revenue stream the company is only beginning to tap.
- Branch network as distribution - 25 branch offices across India, with a new one added in Surat, give the company a physical presence that complements its digital platforms and helps it serve walk-in customers who need currency for travel.
- Partnerships extend the shelf - the company sells traveller's cheques through American Express and forex travel cards through Axis Bank and ICICI Bank, so it can offer products without manufacturing them.
- Hedged, not speculative - the business uses foreign exchange forward contracts to protect itself against currency swings, but does not trade derivatives for profit, keeping the risk profile contained.
2. Payment systems: the full-stack card-and-wallet factory for fintechs
The company issues prepaid cards and wallets under its own perpetual RBI licence, then white-labels that entire stack - licence, technology, network connectivity - for fintech clients who want to launch a card program without becoming a regulated entity themselves.
- Licence-as-a-service - Transcorp is the only non-bank in India offering full-stack co-branded card programs, meaning a fintech startup can launch a branded prepaid card powered entirely by Transcorp's licence, platform and network connections with NPCI and VISA.
- First-mover on every rail - it was the first non-bank to go live on RuPay network cards, the first to get RBI approval for co-branding, the first and still the only non-bank on the VISA network, and the only non-bank offering cash withdrawals from prepaid cards.
- Five million instruments and counting - the company has issued over 50 lakh prepaid payment instruments, crossing the 1-million mark in FY22 and more than doubling to over 5 million by FY26, with transaction volumes growing over 500% in FY24 alone.
- Payouts for every use case - the platform handles merchant settlements, commission and incentive payouts, gifts, loans, salaries and meal expenses, which means corporate clients use it as a disbursement engine, not just a consumer card issuer.
- Regulatory sandbox to real product - the company completed RBI's Regulatory Sandbox for retail payments using a digital offline Distributed Ledger Technology, the first of its kind approved for adoption in India, giving it a head start on offline digital payments.
Group structure and partners
A pending demerger scheme aims to split the foreign exchange and payments businesses into separate listed companies, while four wholly owned subsidiaries extend the group into property, travel and two yet-to-launch regulated entities.
- The demerger that unlocks value - a Composite Scheme of Arrangement approved by the board in June 2022 would amalgamate the property subsidiary Transcorp Estates into the parent, then demerge the foreign exchange undertaking into Transwire Forex Limited and the payments undertaking into Transcorp Payments Limited, with both resulting companies applying for listing on the BSE and issuing one share for every two held in the parent.
- Stuck at the RBI's door - the scheme is pending clearance from the RBI's Foreign Exchange Department because it involves demerging a business that holds an RBI licence, and the company cannot proceed until that NoC arrives.
- Subsidiaries that extend the footprint - Transcorp Estates holds and rents immovable property, while Ritco Travels and Tours is a 39-year-old travel agency handling ticketing, tours, hotels and vehicle rentals, giving the group a presence in adjacent customer spending categories.
- The partner ecosystem - network partners NPCI and VISA provide the rails for the payments business, Tide co-brands SME expense cards, MCT Cards manufactures the physical cards including India's first recycled-PVC RuPay card, and Transcorp supports the prepaid card and wallet infrastructure.