Ripple, the crypto currency that aims to change the way we send payments across the world, has just expanded into India. They have opened their first office in Mumbai.
They have also hired their country manager in the region, Mr Navin Gupta. Mr Gupta has worked in financial services for over 20 years for such names as HSBC and Citibank. He has also worked in countries such as the US, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.
The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse stated that
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
He also mentioned that the new hire brings a wealth of experience to the role and are confident in his ability to drive the Ripple payments solution in India.
Mr Gupta mentioned that India is the largest recipient for remittances from corporate and retail users in the world. He noted that these businesses and individuals want to be able to send their money abroad at the lowest cost possible. Moreover, they would like to rely on a payment system that is able to make the transfers as quickly as possible.
He also questioned the need for payments to take that much longer to come from abroad than they would take within India. Given that the Ripple protocol uses block chain technology to execute the payments in a fraction of a second.
Mr Gupta also saw the transformative potential of Ripple to really impact on the Indian economy. India is a largely cash based economy and using the Ripple protocol will bring more of the unbanked into the fold. As Mr Gupta mentioned
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.
