UAE Exchange eyes more NRIs remittances as weak rupee, RBI steps spurt dollar inflows

MUMBAI: The Dubai-based global money transfer operator UAE Exchange is hopeful of netting 23 per cent more business volume this year, taking its market share over 12 per cent, as the steep fall in the rupee and RBI steps to attract dollars from the diaspora have led to a spurt in inflows.

Last year company handled USD 6.9 billion worth of remittances. UAE Exchange claims 10 per cent market share in the remittances business in the country, which totalled USD 69.2 billion last year and is projected to touch USD 71 billion this year.

“We have seen a sharp spike in remittances volume as the expats are taking advantage of the sharp fall in the rupee. The ongoing festive season will also add at least 10-12 per cent to the spurt in transaction volumes. Accordingly, we expect our volume to touch a record USD 8.5 billion this year,” UAE Exchange Vice-President for global operations Promoth Manghat told PTI.

The volume of the Dubai-based exchange till September grew 27 per cent to USD 6.5 billion, which was 7 per cent in the same period last year. The January-September period rise in remittances volume is the highest since 2008 for the company, he said.

The rupee, which fell close to 30 per cent between April and August has helped in attracting more dollar inflows. “The RBI’s special window to attract NRI dollar deposits, valid till November 30, has also driven high volume foreign currency remittances,” Manghat said.

NRIs also choose to remit money for gifting purposes during the festive season, apart from purchase of gold and other investment options including real estate.

Manghat said the average transaction volumes have risen by about 27 per cent so far this year and average transaction size has also increased by 7 per cent to USD 830 against to USD 775 in 2012.

“Remittances in Kerala have already crossed their annual target within the first six months of the year itself, recording inflows of over Rs 75,800 crore,” Manghat added.

The World Bank in a recent report said the country will continue to remain the top remittances destination this year with over USD 71 billion, up from USD 69.2 billion in 2012.

Source:
economictimes.indiatimes.com

UAE Exchange ties up with Cox & Kings Tours for Payment Collections

Dubai, 2013: The leading global remittance and foreign exchange brand,
UAE Exchange, has tied up with Cox & Kings Tours LLC to offer customers the option to pay airline fares, tour package costs and payments for other travel-related services at its branches.

In a statement, UAE Exchange said that the partnership is in line with its mission to enhance its payment solutions portfolio that facilitates payments by customers on a variety of fronts from travel to credit card payments. “The partnership with Cox & Kings further endorses our strategy to be an entity that constantly tracks customer needs and offer them viable, alternative and easy to access platforms for payments. We are delighted to join hands with a reputed travel leader like Cox & Kings,” said Mr. Varghese Mathew, Country Head – UAE Operations, UAE Exchange.
“Our partnership with UAE Exchange has added more value to our consolidated travel offerings and we believe will enhance our reach across the UAE. We are confident that this strategic relationship will have a positive impact on the businesses of both the entities,” said Vinod Kumar, Sr. General Manager- Outbound, Cox & Kings. The partnership will help customers complete their payment formalities towards confirmed travel bookings with Cox & Kings at the UAE Exchange counters. This will be a significant facility, particularly those who do not own a credit or debit card. The payment can be done at any of the 125branches of the UAE Exchange in the UAE.

Notes to the Editors:
About UAE Exchange
Known for its excellent customer service and widest network among remittance brands,UAE Exchange has over 700 branches in 30 countries serving over six million customers. Strong correspondent relationship with over 150 global banks further adds to the might. With 125 branches in the UAE, employees of Smart Pay clients not only can walk in to the nearest one to receive their salaries on time, but also address their multiple financial requirements viz. money transfers, currency exchange, bill payments and more, under one roof. It is now more convenient for them as UAE Exchange has established 14 branches in the Dubai Metro network, the first remittance brand to do so. This penchant for quality has won UAE Exchange many awards and earned the trust of customers, partners and regulators alike, thus earning the acclaim of the World’s Trusted Money Transferrer.

For more information, visit www.uaeexchange.com
To participate in our exciting contests, join us on Facebook by logging on to www.facebook.com/uaeexchange

About Cox & Kings
Cox & Kings is the world’s longest established travel company, as old as 1758, headquartered in Mumbai has a presence in over 13 countries worldwide. Our worldwide offices are located in India, UK, USA, Japan, Russia and Singapore with associate offices in Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Sweden and Australia and UAE.

Cox and Kings Tours LLC, is a little over 7 years and is located in Karama and offers a wide gourmet of services like Holidays, Hotels, Cruises, Tickets, Corporate Travel, MICE, Insurance etc. With specialisation in holiday business, we cater to a wide range of holiday products like Group Tours, Individual Holidays, Tailor Made Holidays, Incentive Holidays, Community Holidays, School Group Holidays etc.

It’s our endeavour to make all our guests feel comfortable in planning their holiday and are happy brand ambassadors for Cox and Kings. Cox & Kings is a one-stop Travel Fulfilment Center with an online as well as offline presence.

For more information, visit www.coxandkings.ae and follow us onwww.facebook.com/coxandkings.ae
for exciting offers, contests and events.

UAE Exchange, #UAE, Celebrates Customer Loyalty Month

UAE Exchange, UAE, the global provider of money transfer, foreign exchange, and bill payment solutions, is observing the month of June as Customer Loyalty Month. The objective of this initiative is to develop innovative methods to improve customer service and increase customer loyalty quotient.
UAE Exchange has always been intensive on the customer service front. Every business strategy, be it a partnership, a new product or service introduction, or a new branch opening, is aimed at delivering a unique customer experience.

We take extensive steps to inculcate this sense of customer service in every employee within the organisation, from those working in the backend to those facing the customers. The Customer Loyalty Month is part of this customer-first philosophy of UAE Exchange.

As part of the Customer Loyalty Month, UAE Exchange employees interacting with customers in person, come up with innovative ideas to engage customers at every phase of interaction. Employees also discover rapport-building methods to build long-term relationships with customers as a loyalty-inducing measure.

We intend to add more value to customer experiences with these new ideas, each time they interact with UAE Exchange.

Customer assistance
For queries regarding our services or products, send an email to uae.customer.care@uaeexchange.com or call 600 555 550 (Valid in UAE only). For call back service, send an SMS message to 6000 (both Etisalat and Du)

#Sharjah: Mayura award conferred on #Sudhir K Shetty at the 11th Anniversary grand celebration of #KSS

Sharjah, 01 June 2013: The coveted Mayura Award has been conferred on Sudhir Kumar Shetty COO (Global) UAE Exchange Centre in a glittering ceremony held at the 11th grand celebration of Karnataka Sangha Sharjah on Friday. The grand event was held at Basma Ballroom, Ewan Hotel, Sharjah on 31st May 2013 under the able leadership of dynamic Satish Poojary.

The programme started at 11 AM with MC Rohini announcing the opening up of the grand programme with hoisting of Karnataka flag by President Satish Poojary along with his Committee Members presence, while ’Jai Bharatha Jananiya Tanujaathe’ national song being lively sung melodiously by Sonia Gautham, Sarala Raghuprasad, Yashodha Ganapathy Bhat, Revathy Gururaj Rao, Shuba Arun & Deepa Raghunandan. The background score was played by Rajesh Kuthar & Dhanush Ananth. The audience saluted the national song standing with dignity throughout the song.
V.P. Nityananda of KSS gave a pleasing welcome speech and soon MC’s Rohini & Rajesh Kuthar took over the stage welcoming and introducing the third MC who was flown in directly from Bangalore. It was a surprise when they announced her name, RJ Shruthi of Big FM who later popped up to the stage from the audience side and introduced the Nataraja Nritya Shala Team who were also flown from Bangalore especially for this programme.

The dance team from Bangalore under the direction of choreographer Vasundhara Sampath Kumar presented ’Pushpaanjali & Ganesha Stuthi’ with Pallavi Manjunath, Smrithi Muralidhar, Meenakshi Kishan, Aishwariya Rao, Ashwini Vishwanath, Sahana Rao, Shruthi Srinivasan & Bhoomika Rajkumar which gave a initial classical touch to the programme.

Followed was ’Welcome Dance’ by Jasmitha & Group comprising of Prapthi Jayanand Pakkala, Shanil Sharath Shetty, Shefali Laxmidas, Pranamya Prasanna Belvai & Jasmitha herself. The programme got a boost with the electrifying ’Jai Ganesha Dance’ by Praveen Shetty & Group comprising of Prarthan Vishwanath Shetty, Bnihal Satish Shetty, Virat Manohar Hegde, Amisha Mahesh Shetty, Adithi Dinesh Shetty, Sahil Satish Shetty & Praveen Shetty himself dancing and choreographing the dance.

’Shambo Tanaya’ was later presented by Bunts Dubai with Ananya Naveen Alva, Prapti Jayanand Pakkala, Shanell Sharath, Rithika Rajpal, Rashmika Rajpal, Ashish Harsh, Siya Harsh, Nilesh Narayan, Shreya Prasanna, Ayush Santosh & Prapti Jayanth, choreographed by Jasmitha.

Troupe Nataraja Nritya Shala later presented a ’Suggi Kunitha’ a folk of Karnataka with the choreography of Vasundhara Sampath Kumar well presented. Followed was ’Krishna Nee Begane Baaro’ a semi classical dance presented by ’Klassical Rhythms’ beautifully by Yukta, Tanvi & Smrithi under the choreography of Rohini Ananth. Later again Nataraja Nritys Shala Troupe presented ’Taaye’ folk dance under the direction of Vasundhara Sampath Kumar brilliantly.

It was nice to see little feet’s of a group of 22 children dancing ’Lambaani’ which was again a presentation of ’Klassical Rhythms’ under the choreography of Sapna Kiran & Rohini Ananth well presented with Aarushi Santosh, Adithi Kiran, Manasa Venkateshwara, Disha Dinesh, Sharanya Suresh, Ananya Rajan, Abhinav Kiran, Taksha Dinesh, Adithri, Pragna, Divya, Sanjana, Sparsha, Shreya, Shrushti, Yaasna, Tia, Gowri, Adithi, Taaruki, Sannidhi & Anvi smiling shaking their body to the tune of Lambaani song of north Karnataka appreciated by the audience with huge round of applause. This was followed by a skit by Gammath Kalavidaru comprising of Ramesh Suvarna, Sunil, Prakash Shetty, Monappa Suvarna & Rajesh Kuthar.

Next was a very impressive ’Navilu Kunitha’ by Nataraja Nritya Shaala students dancing to the tune of the famous instrumental flute music of Remo Fernandes which enthralled the audience. RJ Shruthi beautifully announced this and introduced the choreographer Vasundhara Sampath Kumar. This was followed by a dance to the tune of Hindi mix being presented by Mogaveers UAE comprising of Yukta, Manvi, Tanvi, Hetal, Naisha, Harsha, Laavika & Jathin which was flawlessly, smilingly performed by these little ones and appreciated with a big round of applause.

Before lunch was a brilliant mimicry performance by Prajwal who enacted in dance form the actions of Bollywood’s Rajesh Khanna to Hritik Roshan and from Sandalwoods Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, Rajnikanth and many, with more than 20 actors steps were shown in non-stop tireless attempt until the organisers stopped it due to shortage of time frame for other programmes.

Sumptuous Buffet Lunch was served to the audience who while savoring were enjoying the live singing in karaoke by many enthusiastic resident as well as visiting singers who kept the programme in continuity.

Soon after the lunch was formal stage programme and Ganesh Rai, Ex-President of Karnataka Sangha Sharjah took over the stage and conducted the programme flawlessly in his own real Kannadiga style.

Mark Denis, Patron of Karnataka Sangha Sharjah along with President Satish Poojary and Committee Members, lead the procession of Guests of Honours with live drums, women associates with flowers and flags leading to the stage. The guests included Padmashree Dr. B.R. Shetty, Mayura Awardee Sudhir Kumar Shetty, Y.A. Rahim, President of Indian Association Sharjah, Paulose of Seon Ashram, Pravin Shetty of Fortune Group of Hotels, Satish Venkataramana of Chilly Willy Trading and other Executive Members of Karnataka Sangha Sharjah who were invited on to the stage who did the lighting of lamp while ’Haccheeve Kannadadha Deepa’ was sung live on the stage. Dr. B.R. Shetty & Y.A. Rahim were honoured with shawl and flowers by Mark Denis & Satish Poojary.

President Satish Poojary welcomed the gathering individually mentioning all the Sponsors, Community Organisations, Media Representatives and the audience.

Later Ganesh Rai announced the ’Mayura Awardee 2013’ Sudhir Kumar Shetty who was invited on to the stage to receive the award. He briefed the good deeds of Sudhir Kumar Shetty and read out the ’Sanmana Pathra’ while inviting Dr. B.R. Shetty to honour him with Shawl & Mysore turban (peta), Y.A. Rahim to present flower bouquet, Shashikant Kannagi with fruits, Mark Denis with ’Mayura Award’ and ’Sanmana Patra’ with Satish Poojary who felicitated Sudhir Kumar Shetty with all the honours. Sudhir Kumar Shetty in response to the honours spoke nicely and bestowed the award in the name of all those who supported him in his career so far in reaching this stage of honour. He remembered his old childhood days and schooling and thanked B.R. Shetty for keeping faith in him and appointing him to this position with which he sincerely carried on his duties to bring fame to the group company. He also remembered the contribution of the Kerala community, as he comes from the bordering town of Kasaragod district, who has attributed much in his childhood days and also remembered the discipline of his college where he graduated.

Late Umesh Nanthoor, the first President of KSS and who initiated the Mayura Award was remembered during the programme.

Every year KSS honours one of their dedicated hard working Committee Member with special honour and this year it was Jeevan Kuckian who was invited on to the stage along with his wife Rajani Kuckian and children for the honours. Shantaram Achar read out the ’Sanmana Patra’ while B.R. Shetty honoured him with shawl, Suvarna Satish with flower bouquet, Mark Denis with fruits, Satish Poojary with ’Sanmana Patra’. On behalf of Jeevan Kuckian, Ganesh Rai thanked for the felicitation.

Five generation teachers and disciples of the very famous Nataraja Natya Shala who were present during the programme were invited on to the stage and felicitated.

Patron Mark Denis gave a good speech and highlighted on the family attributes and contribution to the society in general. Later was Souvenir book release on the KSS’s completion of a decade in this part of the world. The book wrapped in red cloth was brought in with the sounds of drums from the audience on to the stage which was released by Dr. B.R. Shetty in the presence of all the Guest of honours. All the sponsors, media representatives, community leaders were invited on to the stage and honoured with shawls and souvenir in the hands of the Guest of Honours.

Followed was speech by Y.A. Rahim of India Association Sharjah and followed by honour to Paulose of Seon Ashram for disabled and special needs people located in Karnataka. President Satish Poojary presented a cheque of Rupees 1 Lakh to Paulose, a contribution of Karnataka Sangha Sharjah towards this ashram as a communtiy social responsibility.

Dr. B. R. Shetty was felicitated by KSS and he later spoke few words highlighting the good programme of KSS and about awardee Sudhir Kumar Shetty. Ganesh Rai pointed out that incidentally B.R. Shetty was with KSS from the first Mayura Award felicitation function till the current one.

Soon after the formal stage programme the stage got cleared for the cultural programmes to continue. But before that the visiting team of Bangalore were honoured.

Next was a folk dance ’Tulunada Vaibhava’ presented by Jasmitha with Sandeep Shetty, Vrishab Jayanth, Rithesh Kumar, Jinesh Narayan, Prapthi Jayanand, Sanmatha Hegde, Divya Prakash, Prateek Jayanand, Prakash Pakkala, Jayalaxmi Jayanand, Nagraj Muddu, Ramesh Suvarna, Nireeksha Suresh, Latha Hegde, Rajashree Rajpal, Shrutha Naveen, Rakesh Hegde, Kishore Shetty, Jayanth Shetty, Balakrishna Shetty, Hariparsad Shetty and Jasmitha.

Mudra Institute’s Prasanna Poojary and his team gave a brilliant performance which was very well applauded followed by ’Koon Chala’ & ’Jai Ho’ two patriotic dance presentation by Nataraja Nritya Shala beautifully choreographed by Vasundhara Sampath. Later was a light couple dance performance by Deepakraj couple presented smoothly for Kannada songs applauded by audience.

All the three MC’s, Rohini, Rajesh Kuthar & Shruthi along with Ganesh Rai carried on the programme smoothly.

There were some spot games in between the programme and the daylong celebration ended with ’Lucky Kannadiga’ raffle draw and vote of thanks by General Secretary, Shashikanth Kannagi of Karnataka Sangha Sharjah.

Source:
Report: Shodhan Prasad
Pics: Deepak D’Silva
Daijiworld Media Network – Sharjah

#Indian expatriates welcome softening #rupee

Renewed softness in the currency is providing an opportunity for Indian workers in the UAE to send more money home, but the weak rupee is negative for India’s push to attract more foreign investment. The dirham is pegged to the US dollar, so its strength means that more rupees can be bought by each dirham.

“Though Indian expats are making merry by taking advantage of the rupee fall to remit more money home, the nation’s economy is definitely not in its best phase now,” saidPromoth Manghat, the vice president of global operations at UAE Exchange. There does not seem to be “any positive sign for the rupee going up the ladder”, he added.

India is the largest recipient of remittances in the world, receiving US$69 billion last year, according to the World Bank. The Middle East is the region from which India receives the biggest flows of remittances. The rupee on Wednesday weakened to 56.3 against the dollar during trading. This meant that Dh1 was worth more than 15 rupees. The rupee has declined by about 4 per cent against the dollar since the beginning of the month.

“The weakness of the rupee in recent weeks is predominantly due to international factors,” said Naveen Mathur, the associate director, commodities and currencies, at Angel Broking.

“The dollar index is gaining strength and that is one of the major reasons which is having a weakening effect on the rupee. That’s because of the Fed talking about the reversal of QE in due course and at the same time the US data is also coming a little positive.”

A weak Indian rupee is negative for India in terms of its current account deficit, which is already a concern. As a major importer, a weaker currency drives up the costs of imports, which can widen the current account deficits.

The weakness of rupee definitely leads to pressure on imports,” said Mr Mathur. “Weakness in the currency impacts the financial balance sheet and the same time it impacts the brand which you carry for a country. If you’re looking for inflows coming in from the foreign markets, FDI, the rupee weakness will definitely impact the kind of returns which these organisations would look for.”

“With the rupee plunging by around 2 per cent in just [over] a week, this is good news for the non-resident Indian community, who are in the habit of remitting money to India regularly,” said Adeeb Ahamed, the chief executive of Lulu International Exchange.

But the effects in India are largely unfavourable. “It is a cause of concern for policymakers, investors, businessmen and even the common man,” said Mr Ahamed. “The depreciating rupee raises the price of imports. India mainly imports crude oil, fertilizers and gold. This, in turn, has a domino effect on cost of living and inflation.”

P Chidambaram, India’s finance minister, met Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, Minister of Finance, on Sunday to discuss relations and investment between the countries.

This was part of a series of roadshows that Mr Chidambaram has been undertaking to attract investment to India, which has also included visits to Paris, Doha, and London.

Data to be released soon is expected to show that India’s economy slowed to the lowest level of growth in a decade in the last financial year. Adding to India’s economic woes, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s this month warned that India still faces a one-in-three chance of having its credit rating downgraded to junk status within the next year.

Source:
business@thenational.ae

Make Bill Payments Easier on your Wallet

Summary: A smarter choice in products and a change in habits can bring a smile on your face when paying bills.

If your power, water and mobile phone bills have of late been drilling a hole in your wallet, then realise that you can still take control by reducing your usage wisely. Often, it takes only simple steps to make a significant difference to your utility bills. Even if you are happy with your bills at the moment, integrating these cost-saving measures into your life helps you identify areas where you have been wasting money.

Simple Steps to Slash your Electricity Bills:

• Follow the classic guideline of switching off appliances and fixtures when not needed. Check for any running appliance or fixture before going to sleep at night.
• Replace filters in appliances such as air conditioners and heating or cooling systems, as and when needed. The cost that you are reluctant to spend on a new filter gets added to your electricity bill. With an inefficient filter, the appliance not only consumes more electricity to complete its task, but also gets degraded gradually.
• Reduce usage of appliances that generate heat, during summer. Using household appliances such as ovens, heaters, dishwashers and dryers, in the mornings when the sun is blazing, forces your air conditioner to work more to generate a cooling effect.
• Go for energy-saving models when shopping for appliances as they generate lower levels of heat comparatively. Choose models that have a higher efficiency rating.
• Use your refrigerator wisely as it consumes more electricity than other kitchen appliances. Avoid opening refrigerator doors often as it lets cold air out and pushes the appliance to work harder to cool the interiors again and again. Refrigerate hot foods only after they have cooled down, to prevent high power consumption by refrigerator motors to cool such foods.

Easy Tips to Reduce your Water Bills:
If you are using a water meter, you can adopt a number of ways to reduce water consumption at home:

•  Check taps for leaks regularly. Leaks can result in loss of several gallons of water and you could end up paying more for water that you did not use.
• Stop spending too much time under the shower. Close the tap immediately after a task, say shaving or cleaning vegetables, instead of letting water run till you finish it.
•  Fit your shower heads and faucets with water flow controllers available in the market. These devices control water flow so you don’t end up using more water than you actually require for a task.
•  Recycle water wherever possible. For example, you could use water remaining after cleaning vegetables for your plants.
• Calculate your water bill yourself by reading the water meter. Water billing officials may sometimes make mistakes in reading the meter and end up giving a wrong bill amount. Keep yourself up-to-date about charges per unit for water consumption to make your calculation.

Simple Ways to Save on Mobile Phone Bills:

• Choose plans that go with your calling, messaging, internet and multimedia needs. For example, if you call abroad often, you could go with a customised plan that offers comparatively lower rates for such calls as against more generic plans.
• Make use of free call benefits provided by your mobile network operator. Several carrier services allow free calls within a group using the same network; add members that you most talk to or send messages to, to such plans.
• Use alternative web-based communication channels such as Skype and Google Talk to make calls. You can talk to other callers with accounts on these platforms for free. Get your friends or family open an account with such services. Opening accounts is usually free.
• Consider using prepaid call plans if you are not an overly cell phone person.

Consider practising these tips on a daily basis, even if you get to incorporate only a few of them at the onset.