Continuing its expansion across high-growth regional markets, Thomas Cook (India) Limited has strengthened its foreign exchange footprint in Assam with the inauguration of a new franchise outlet in Guwahati. Recognised as the gateway to Northeast India and an increasingly important hub for business, education and outbound travel, Guwahati represents a key market in the company’s strategy to enhance accessibility and convenience for customers seeking foreign exchange solutions.
With the launch of the new outlet, Thomas Cook India has expanded its presence to three locations across Assam, including its established operations at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (LGBIA). The expansion reflects growing demand for foreign exchange services in the region and reinforces the company’s commitment to building a strong omnichannel network that seamlessly integrates physical and digital customer experiences.
The new outlet offers Thomas Cook India’s comprehensive portfolio of foreign exchange products and services. These include prepaid travel cards in partnership with Mastercard and Visa, such as the Borderless Travel multi-currency card for leisure travellers, the FX Enterprise Card for business travellers, the Study Buddy Card designed for students pursuing overseas education, and the Thomas Cook One Currency Card, India’s first prepaid card with zero cross-currency conversion fees. Customers can also access foreign currency in 26 global destination currencies, overseas remittance services covering more than 120 countries, and a range of specialised solutions for students, including tuition fee transfers, living expense remittances, travel benefits and insurance services.
Guwahati’s growing significance as a forex market is being driven by multiple factors. Rising outbound leisure travel, increasing overseas education aspirations, expanding business activity and a growing base of passport holders have all contributed to higher demand for foreign exchange services. The city is home to an estimated six lakh passport holders and benefits from the presence of leading student counselling organisations. Additionally, the anticipated boost in international connectivity through developments at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport is expected to further enhance outbound travel opportunities from the region.
Thomas Cook India has also observed a steady increase in walk-in enquiries, website traffic and call-centre referrals from Guwahati and the wider Northeast region. These trends highlighted the need for a conveniently located physical presence that complements the company’s robust digital ecosystem.
Strategically positioned in a high-visibility area of the city, the new outlet has been designed to serve a broad customer base, including families, students and working professionals. The centre will support customers seeking currency notes, prepaid forex cards, overseas remittances and education-related forex solutions while providing personalised assistance through experienced forex specialists.
A key differentiator of the new outlet is its integration into Thomas Cook India’s “phygital” distribution model, which combines the convenience of digital services with the assurance of face-to-face support. Customers can begin their forex transactions in-store and complete them online, or initiate transactions digitally and receive assistance at the outlet, creating a flexible and seamless experience tailored to individual preferences.
The company’s digital capabilities include its Forex App for consumers, the FX Mate platform for business partners, Video KYC facilities and Forex on WhatsApp, which provides 24×7 access to live exchange rates and end-to-end transaction support. Together, these innovations ensure that customers can access forex services anytime and from anywhere, while still benefiting from the confidence and trust associated with a physical branch network.
Commenting on the launch, Deepesh Varma, Chief Business Officer – Foreign Exchange, Thomas Cook (India) Limited, said:
“Guwahati is a high-potential and fast-evolving forex market, serving as the gateway to Northeast India with increasing outbound leisure and student travel, rising passport penetration and growing digital adoption. The launch of our new outlet reflects our confidence in the city’s growth trajectory and the strong demand we are seeing across walk-ins, digital enquiries and assisted channels.
Our new outlet is strategically designed to cater to this demand while reinforcing our omnichannel ‘phygital’ approach – where customers can seamlessly move between our physical stores and digital platforms based on their convenience. Whether it is initiating a transaction in-store and completing it online, or accessing our services digitally via app or WhatsApp and seeking on-ground support, we are enabling a truly flexible and customer-centric journey. With innovations like our Forex App, V-KYC and 24×7 Forex on WhatsApp, we are focused on delivering speed, convenience and trust – especially for a digitally evolving market like Guwahati. This expansion reiterates our commitment to building strong regional access and meeting the needs of a rapidly evolving India.”
With over one million customers served annually through its omnichannel foreign exchange network, Thomas Cook India continues to invest in regional expansion and digital innovation. The new Guwahati outlet marks another step in the company’s journey to make trusted, convenient and technology-enabled forex services accessible to customers across India’s emerging travel and education markets.