2016
01Bangalore
- Founded by Abhishek Pillai out of a co-working desk on Brigade Road.
- FFMC Category-II licence granted by RBI Chennai · FE.CHN.FFMC/49/2016.
- First customer: a postgraduate student headed to Boston.
Chapter VIAbout iforex
Saturday, 23 May 2026 · The masthead◐ A profile, in plain language
A small forex desk on Brigade Road, since 2016.
Founded by a former HDFC FX trader who thought retail forex in India deserved better paperwork, better rates, and a doorbell.
Ten years and two hundred thousand customers later, we still operate from the same Bangalore address.
The same bank, two floors down, charged retail customers four percent on the currencies it sold institutional clients at half a percent. Iforex exists to close that gap.
§ I · A short history
Eleven years, in eleven lines.
Read it like a ledger. The numbers don’t lie about us — they are the company. One year per row, in the order they happened.
2017
02Bangalore
- HDFC scheduled-bank settlement account opened.
- First doorstep delivery in metropolitan Bangalore.
2018
03Bangalore · Mumbai
- Western Union partnership launched.
- Mumbai branch opened in Bandra-Kurla Complex.
2019
04Four cities
- Chennai and Delhi branches.
- Crossed ₹50 Cr cumulative volume.
2020
05Four cities
- COVID. Branches closed; entire operation pivoted to online with doorstep delivery.
- Volume held — a small win in a hard year.
2021
06Five cities
- Travel-insurance distribution agreement signed with Future Generali.
- Hyderabad branch opened.
2022
07Six cities
- Multi-currency forex card launched in partnership with Visa.
- Pune branch opened.
2023
08Six cities
- Money-transfer service scaled to 200 countries via MoneyGram.
- Kolkata branch opened.
2024
09Seven cities
- Bajaj Allianz added as second insurance underwriter.
- First Tier-2 courier rails launched — Mysuru, Coimbatore, Indore.
2025
107 cities · 14 rails
- Crossed ₹1,000 Cr cumulative volume.
- First corporate forex desk signed — Infosys.
2026
117 cities · 65+ rails
- ECB live rate-feed integration. Real-time 0.50% spread on every quote.
- Reached two-hundred-thousandth customer.
Volumes are annual, not cumulative. Customer counts are end-of-financial-year totals. All figures audited by BSR & Co. Chartered Accountants and filed with MCA.
§ II · The people
Four people who’ve done this before.
iforex is forty-seven people. These are the four who set policy on rates, operations, compliance, and the technology that holds it together.
ex-HDFC Treasury · Mumbai · 2009–2015
Abhishek Pillai
Founder & Chief Executive
Ran the institutional FX desk at HDFC for six years before founding iforex from a Bangalore co-working space. Reads every customer email himself.
ex-Western Union India · 2011–2018
Meera Krishnan
Chief Operating Officer
Built Western Union’s last-mile operations across South India before joining iforex in 2019. Owns the doorstep-delivery network.
ex-RBI Chennai · FX & Banking Supervision · 2003–2019
Vikram Shah
Chief Compliance Officer
Spent sixteen years inside the RBI’s FX supervision division before joining iforex. Authors every Form A2 declaration we file.
ex-Razorpay · Lead Engineer · 2017–2022
Anjali Rao
Chief Technology Officer
Built the rate-engine and order-management platform from scratch. Insists on five-decimal precision on every quote we ship.
Forty-three more iforex employees handle the desks, deliveries, KYC, and customer support across our seven branches. Eighty-one per cent of customer calls are answered within thirty seconds.
§ III · Licences & audit
The paperwork, on the record.
Every licence we operate under, with the file numbers public-records search will return. We are an Authorised Dealer; we are not a bank.
Active licences
- 01Granted March 2016Reserve Bank of India
Authorised Dealer · Cat. II (FFMC)
FE.CHN.FFMC/49/2016Currency exchange · outward remittance up to LRS limits.
- 02Granted August 2018RBI
Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS)
MTSS/22/2018Inward and outward small-value transfers via Western Union / MoneyGram.
- 03Granted November 2021IRDAI
Corporate Agent · Composite
CA0432Distribution of travel insurance from up to three life and three non-life insurers.
- 04Granted January 2016Ministry of Corporate Affairs
Private Limited Company
CIN · U67190KA2016PTC089421Registered in Karnataka. Annual filings via MCA21 portal.
Audit & counsel
- Since 2019
BSR & Co. LLP
Statutory auditor · financial statements
- Since 2021
Deloitte Haskins & Sells
Concurrent auditor · FX transactions
- Since 2017
Lex Praxis Advocates
Regulatory counsel · RBI & IRDAI matters
§ IV · Branches
Seven cities, one corner each.
We’ve resisted opening more branches than we can run well. Each is staffed by forex specialists, not retail clerks; each operates Monday through Saturday.
- 01Since 2016
Bangalore
HQ142, Brigade Road
Bangalore 560 001Direct line+91 80 4148 0020HoursMon–Sat · 09:30–20:00 - 02Since 2018
Mumbai
Unit 04, BKC One
Bandra Kurla Complex 400 051Direct line+91 22 4801 4900HoursMon–Sat · 09:30–19:30 - 03Since 2019
Delhi
1st floor, F-Block, Connaught Place
New Delhi 110 001Direct line+91 11 4801 8800HoursMon–Sat · 10:00–19:30 - 04Since 2019
Chennai
2-A, Pinnacle Tower, Anna Salai
Chennai 600 002Direct line+91 44 4801 4400HoursMon–Sat · 09:30–19:30 - 05Since 2021
Hyderabad
Ground floor, Lake View Plaza
Banjara Hills 500 034Direct line+91 40 4801 1100HoursMon–Sat · 09:30–19:30 - 06Since 2022
Pune
5, North Main Road
Koregaon Park 411 001Direct line+91 20 4801 7700HoursMon–Sat · 09:30–19:00 - 07Since 2023
Kolkata
11A, Russell Street
Kolkata 700 071Direct line+91 33 4801 2200HoursMon–Sat · 10:00–19:30
Doorstep delivery via our own staff in the seven branch cities. Beyond, we use vetted domestic-courier rails serving fifty-eight further cities — a network that took five years to build to a standard we’d trust with currency.
§ V · A note from the founder
On why this desk exists.
iforex
142, Brigade Road · Bangalore 560 001
From the desk of the Chief Executive22 · 05 · 2026
“When I left HDFC in early 2016, the FX desk I came from served institutional clients — corporates, importers, banks — at razor-thin spreads.
The same bank, two floors down, charged retail customers three to four percent on the very same currencies. And made them queue.
I started iforex to bring institutional-grade rates to ordinary travellers. It seemed straightforward at the time. It wasn’t.
Ten years on, what’s changed is the rate (down from 1.5% to 0.5%), the speed (down from three days to four hours), and the geography (one branch on Brigade Road, now seven cities and sixty-five-plus courier rails). What hasn’t changed is the principle: we publish every spread, every fee, every limit — and we send a real human to your door with your currency.
If something we’ve built doesn’t measure up, my email is on this page. I read it.”
- Visit01
Brigade Road, Bangalore
Walk in Mon–Sat. Cardamom tea on the house.
- Call02
+91 80 4148 0020
Direct to the desk. No IVR. Answered in thirty seconds.
- Write03
hello@iforexindia.com
Reaches a real person at iforex. Replied to within the working day.