Thomas Cook (India) Limited delivers on an aggressive expansion strategy, reiterating the company’s strategic phygital model. With the inauguration of eight forex outlets in the past quarter, Thomas Cook India’s foreign network currently extends to 134 locations, including airports, offering customers enhanced ease and convenience.
In addition to the company’s physical (retail) expansion, the foreign exchange business has successfully launched a slew of digital-first initiatives, including TCPay (a digital service for the remittances segment), Video KYC, FxMATE (a digital tool to support B2B partners), and FXNOW (m-app and corporate booking tool). As a result, the forex business has seen a noteworthy increase in digital adoption to 25%.
Thomas Cook India is India’s largest non-bank foreign exchange services provider. The company is witnessing a strong uptick of 24% YoY for the 12-month period ended March 31, 2024.
Thomas Cook’s new counters will offer consumers end-to-end foreign exchange products and services, including cash across global currencies, Thomas Cook’s borderless prepaid card (in partnership with Mastercard and Visa, offering a wallet of 10 currencies), overseas remittances, drafts, wires, and the Study Buddy card for the overseas education segment.
Thomas Cook Foreign Exchange, India ka forex specialist (#IKFS):
The business’ omnichannel model today serves over a million retail customers annually via its website, FXNOW (m-app and corporate booking tool), call centre, and 130 forex stores located across 69 metros, tier two to four cities and towns pan-India.
The company’s Ghar pe Forex commitment to doorstep delivery in two hours serves as strong reassurance with smooth and swift last-mile delivery.
Customers will also benefit from the Thomas Cook Grand Forex Festival until June 30, 2024. On offer are a range of exciting prizes for customers buying foreign exchange, including two smart watches daily, an iPhone 15 every week, and a grand prize of one Harley Davidson x440 every month.
Deepesh Varma, Executive Vice President of Foreign Exchange at Thomas Cook (India) Limited, said, “We have smartly leveraged our omnichannel phygital model to deliver on both physical and digital expansion. In addition to the recent launch of our digital tools (like the recently launched Video KYC and TCPay, a digital service that brings speed and efficiency to our remittances business), I am delighted with our delivery on the retail front, with eight new outlets. Each of these new outlets represents highly viable catchments in India’s powerful tier one and two markets. Today, we are present in over 134 outlets across 71 cities in India. This includes our foreign exchange counters at five airports (Goa-Mopa, Delhi, Kochi, Jaipur, and Guwahati). Our retail expansion aims to ensure ease and convenience right to the customer’s doorstep.”
He added, “We will continue to expand via a combination of owned branches and franchise outlets across India’s metros and mini metros, as well as regional tier two and tier three cities. Additionally, we will maximise our existing franchise holiday outlets to set up foreign exchange counters within the same premises. This enables us to ramp up the scale of our distribution and consumer access with speed.”
Thomas Cook Forex serves 1000+ corporate clients, one million+ active forex prepaid card users, and over a lakh students studying overseas using fees and other remittance services of the company. Thomas Cook operates 29 counters at leading airports in India, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius. The company’s forex business has expanded its digital penetration with a unique B2B online platform, onboarding over 2300 FxMATE partners since its inception during the pandemic.
