Lulu Financial Holdings Eyes Larger Share In Inward Remittance Volume To India

LuLu Financial Holdings (LFH), an Abu Dhabi-based holding company investing in financial services, has an agreement with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), to offer real-time remittances to India. The partnership will enable LuLu Financial Holdings, through its affiliates, to connect to UPI infrastructure and facilitate remittances to beneficiaries in India who are onboarded on UPI-powered apps. The solution will assist with real-time beneficiary name validation and facilitate requisite compliance checks in a secure manner.

What has been the journey of the group in financial services, apart from the growth in real estate and retail?
The Lulu Financial Holdings were set up in 2008, since then we are present now in 10 od countries. The entire GCC, India and the Asia Pacific where we are in Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia and Hong Kong. 

The entire focus of the business has always been cross-border payments and largely to the Indian subcontinent. With India leading the way on global remittances – with remittances crossing $100 billion to India. It shows the amount of interest the entire NRI community has in India and the different sectors that India is opening up for the NRI community. 

What will your role be in that? This $100 billion remittance has been opened up to UPI. What kind of role do you see for yourself?
Lulu Financial Holdings across its 10 odd countries and its populations, remit close to around $5 billion which accounts for around 5 per cent of the entire remittance volume that is coming into India. That is a good note, we see a huge scope in increasing our market share to become leaders. 

How important will the new financial stack be for India and companies like yours?
It is about connecting the end consumer into the beneficiary and also making sure that we further connect  NPCI is a late platform. This year, we've collaborated with them on a variety of projects, including bill payments and a variety of other product lines. So next year we are looking to further partner with them and see how we can further improve our footprint in terms of last-mile delivery.