THE LEGEND IS MOVING AHEAD: Purshottam Kanji Exchange, Since 1920s

A History of GOLD and Golden Traditions

Set up in the year 1920, by Mr. Purshottam Kanji and his father Mr. Kanji, who migrated from the terrains of Kutch, Gujarat in India. Started their business trading viz. in rice, sugar, edible oil and clothes.

With time, in the year 1955, Purshottam Kanji started a small business as a Saraf, exchanging money between Dubai and Muscat and buying and selling pure 24 ct gold. The most tradable currencies in those days were Maria Theresa Thalers – ‘Kirsh Franci Fadda’ a silver Coin that was originally minted in Austria and the Indian Rupees which were in circulation in Oman until 1969. For a decade from 1970 to 1980, Purshottam Kanji was doing money exchange and gold business on their trade license just from the Ministry of Commerce.

In the year 1980, The Central Bank of Oman introduced Money Exchange regulation and M/S. Purshottam Kanji was the first company to get the license issued by CBO to carry on Money Exchange and Draft drawing and buying and selling of gold business. Today we are a proud supplier of GOLD from 1gm to 1 Kg Bars in the Oman Market.

Earlier, The Central Bank of Oman had allowed to open only up to Seven branches. Later on, they sanctioned more branches all over Oman through its length and breadth, as the country was expanding at a rapid pace under His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s dynamic vision and wise leadership on all fronts, attracting all-round business opportunities. A large number of the expatriate workforce was attracted to Oman for contributing their efforts for the rapid development of Oman, said Mr. Shah.

This shift in digital thinking and increased loitering in the digital world. Pandemic-induced confinement, along with enhanced job and income insecurity has made quick-win schemes a green pastureland for grazing, especially for young people.

For companies like us with a vision set on the future of money transfers and payments, distributed ledger technologies could offer opportunities to enrich and empower our customers and communities through innovative solutions. Today, we can send money from Oman to a customer’s bank account in another country and have it credited in seconds. If that is possible without Distributed Ledger Technology, imagine what a technology that takes out intermediaries could offer to the customer in the future! We introduced Online Money Transfer in iOS and Android and have quickly found success. Today we are coming up with a much-advanced solution and our Mobile application is set to be a game changer in the market as digital relationships are growing rapidly in PKE. According to Purshottam Kanji Exchange General Manager, Mr. Supin James “We as a nimble organization, can see the change. We feel it. Many organizations are quick to react to this shift in the psyche, especially those that operate on a global canvas like Purshottam Kanji. We were quick to make digital platforms and solutions the fulcrum of our operations, with technology-based services adding impetus to the traditional brick and mortar operations.”

While the world of money increasingly shifts to digital, and as we course through another roller-coaster year dreaming of a pandemic-free, ‘unconditional outdoors’ social landscape, one thing will remain constant. The experience that every individual gets, whether across the counter or in the virtual world would influence this transformational journey of money. The uninitiated need to be taken care of well, while the initiated need to stick to the newer ways of consumerism.

Expanding to new horizons in Oman

FIRST BRANCH IN MUTRAH The first branch was opened in MUTTRAH Cornish, Mr. Gulab Pawani, Director of Purshottam Kanji. In the early days, we created awareness by distributing leaflets, newspaper advertisements and mouth-to-mouth canvassing about the benefits of transferring money to India through an official channel which was started by the Reserve Bank of India”, further adding other countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines were followed.
To the credit of Purshottam Kanji Exchange LLC; the first bank correspondence relationship was set up in the year 1980 with three Indian banks – Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank and Catholic Syrian Bank.

Recalling the initial days, “Those days we began with only four staff members in our branch and the entries and accounts were managed manually. The Demand Draft was printed and sent by courier to India which took a long time. Interestingly, there were no computers, but the scenario changed with technology catching up globally and Oman growing fast under the able leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, we too introduced computers and electronic transfers.”

In 2023 the organization had the vision to expand the retail outlets to reach out to the customers and to be part of this wonderful journey of PKE. The company had opened 24 branches by the end of 2022 and has seen tremendous response from customers and increased its footfall and has become a strong name amongst the exchange houses in GCC and was recognized by FORBES for the digital growth in the market.

Mr. Supin James, who took over the General Manager position of Purshottam Kanji Exchange in the year 2019 said “We have been having great response from customers and due to the facilities and services the request to have the branches opened next to your home city was one big request we had during Covid crisis. We have worked towards the expansion and our BOARD has acknowledged the need to expand we have opened 11 branches in the year 2023 and taking the total tally to 36 branches with 200+ staff. Our product services include FOREX, Remittance both individual and Corporate and GOLD Bullion sales and purchases have been recognized by customers and as our tagline says, “WE EXCHANGE TRUST”.

We have constantly worked on improving our service and providing a new product line for customers to transfer money abroad and maintain the best rates in the market for all 3 product lines. An efficient team is available for connecting with corporate and individual customers and catering a personalized service. Purshottam Kanji Exchange has established a new corporate office in Mumtaz Plaza in Ruwi has enhanced the facilities in branches and is currently working on a new look and feel.

The Importance of Omanisation is well incorporated and training the professionals to the next level in the organization structure and enhancing the knowledge and skills to support the growth. Purshottam Kanji Exchange has been focusing primarily on Digital innovations and parallel growth in the retail outlets and has been increasing the infrastructure to provide better services to customers in Oman. We are keen on becoming the household name of Oman and take this opportunity to thank the Ruling family and Ministries of Oman for their kindhearted support of our vision and mission.