India Post today joined hands with MoneyGram International to start money transfer services in the country.

The 100 post offices in Delhi, Punjab and Tamil Nadu circles will begin offering MoneyGram instant inward money transfer services, India Post said in a statement.

"The partnership between India Post and MoneyGram is expected to increase transactions from key remitter countries, including the United States, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Saudi Arabia," Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal said.

MoneyGram's services will be extended to other Post Offices and circles in the country in a phased manner. The service is expected to be available in 5,000 post offices in the country by 2014.

India Post and MoneyGram have planned a joint marketing endeavour in a number of states.

According to the World Bank, remittances to developing countries are estimated to have reached USD 325 billion in India. Last year, the country received USD 53.1 billion in remittances.

India Post, with its network of over 155,000 post offices, plays a pivotal role in achieving the objective of financial inclusion.

Radhika Doraiswamy, Secretary, Department of Post and Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot were also the part of the the event.

"For India, remittances contributes to 3.6 per cent share of GDP in 2009," Pilot said.