The Managing Director of Ripple in South Asia and MENA, Navin Gupta, has come out to confirm that the huge and fast-growing Indian remittance market is a target area for the San-Francisco based blockchain company, and it is keen on introducing native crypto XRP into the market for transaction purpose.
Gupta made the assertion during an interaction with the Editor of indiainfoline.com, Shweta Papriwal, revealing that Ripple began operation in the Asian country in 2017 with two offices in popular cities Bangalore and Mumbai.
The 35 million Indians who send a huge amount back to India from abroad are an important reason for the market size, hence, Gupta said many companies are also eyeballing the Indian remittance market.
The Ripple Managing Director said the archaic and costly means of transferring money abroad gulps not less than 7% of the original money value for each transfer to India, thus, Ripple plans to revolutionize the market.
Due to the unclear regulatory landscape in India, the RippleNet solution available in the country does not use XRP, however, Ripple is eager to bring in its ODL (On-Demand Liquidity) solution, which relies on XRP for transactions, into the region, Gupta said, averring that this would offer an easier, faster, cheaper and better remittance service.
Ripple will need to hold back for the government’s regulatory clarity on digital assets before introducing its ODL solution into the region. Gupta said they are positive that soon, India will adopt a healthy regulatory framework that gives digital assets freedom, and Ripple can assist the business to succeed.
What Ripple Stands to Offer with ODL
Gupta said Ripple was born out of the need to eradicate the 3-5 days international transaction settlement time and allow people to move money across the border in the same manner information moves today, with the help of blockchain technology.
At present, Ripple has over 350 customers in more than 45 markets across 6 continents. The firm settles transactions in less than 4 seconds and remove the huge cost attached to transactions.
The remittance-oriented blockchain firm makes use of interbank messaging system for banks to send money globally, and some of its products make use of XRP to execute transactions.
Aside from the speed and cost, being part of RippleNet helps institutions solve the liquidity problems.
Managing Director Navin Gupta said Ripple invented the On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) products to further solve remittance costs rapped around liquidity problems. With the use of XRP, ODL lets institutions solve liquidity problems instantly without prefunding accounts.
Gupta’s Perception on Possible Indian Government Crypto Ban
Gupta said overall rejection isn’t the best way to deal with digital assets but regulation. He added that like developed markets, a robust regulation that includes all stakeholders would be the best approach.
While urging policymakers in India to consider public consultations and suggestions, Gupta said Ripple is optimistic that the policymakers would initiate a responsible adoption of digital assets, and businesses, innovators, entrepreneurs, and consumers in the country will be open to more opportunities. Also, India itself will be able to maintain its competitive edge in the fintech industry.
Gupta also reechoed the differences between Ripple and XRP. He said XRP is the native asset of the permissionless, open-source blockchain technology XRP Ledger while Ripple is a tech company on its own.
