Capital India Finance gets forex business licence from RBI

Capital India Finance Ltd (CIFL) on Thursday said it has received Authorised Dealer Category II licence from RBI for conducting forex business. CIFL is the first listed NBFC in India to receive this licence and is now authorised to build and do forex business under the brand name 'RapiMoney', the company said in a statement. 

Last year, RBI permitted systemically important non-deposit taking NBFCs to obtain Authorised Dealer Category-II licence from it. 

"This adds another feather in the cap of Capital India which is already doing domestic remittances through its fintech subsidiary RapiPay which provides basic banking services of money transfer and cash withdrawal through Micro ATM and Aadhaar enabled payment systems," it said. 

In forex business, CIFL under the brand name 'RapiMoney' will provide outward remittances, forex travel cards, and forex solutions for students travelling to other countries for higher studies, it said. 

According to the statement, foreign exchange market is the largest financial market with a daily turnover of over USD 60 billion of which outward remittance is approximately USD 15 billion before COVID-19 impact. 

The business in foreign exchange market has shown a steady increase as a consequence of rise in the volume of foreign trade of the country and improvement in the communications systems, and is also expected to recover faster from the COVID-19 impact, it said. 

CIFL focusses on providing customised financial solutions to mid corporates and SMEs for their growth and working capital requirements. The non-banking finance company (NBFC) provides home loans in affordable segment through it subsidiary Capital India Home Loans.