Business correspondents change rural banking landscape in Chhattisgarh

FINO PayTech pioneers branchless banking with biometric smart card technology, agent network to service over 28 lakh customers in Chhattisgarh.

Raipur, February 07, 2013: India’s largest business correspondent network operator and banking technology service provider FINO PayTech has today announced that it will soon be expanding its presence and operations in the state of Chhattisgarh. This announcement comes close on the heels of FINO PayTech being awarded the NREGA disbursement mandate for 7 more districts in the state through business correspondent agents.

Branchless banking by BC agents provides great convenience to poor, rural masses as it brings banking services closer to their doorsteps. Firstly, beneficiaries have bank accounts and access to financial services through biometric enabled smart cards; secondly, agent is a local hence they need not visit a bank located far away; thirdly, it is tech driven making the transaction process easy, convenient, transparent and cost effective. Most importantly it plugs leakages as the right beneficiary gets the right amount.

Making the announcement, Mujahid Ahsan, Vice President (Products), FINO PayTech said, "We have been working in Chhattisgarh since 2006 disbursing NREGA payments, starting with Dhamtari and later adding Kawardha, Rajnandgaon districts. Our tech enabled last mile delivery mechanism has proved its efficiency that led us to getting the mandate of making NREGA payments in 7 more districts. In this context, we are pleased to be extending NREGA payments mechanism to 10 districts of the state, thereby benefiting a larger population of over 25 lakhs."

"In addition to NREGA payments, FINO PayTech also provides access to a range of products to micro customers such as savings, loans, insurance, NPS and pension payments," added Mr. Ahsan.

The recently mandated 7 districts for NREGA are Mahasamund, Raigarh, Koriya, Jangjir-Champa, Bastar, Bijapur and Kondagaon. The task of acquiring customers started recently in these districts, with NREGA payments too being initiated in Mahasamund.

Overall FINO PayTech is operational in 17 districts of the state with a mandate of over 28 lakhs (NREGA – 25.67 lakhs; Banking – 2.6 lakhs; SSP – 13000). While NREGA enrollments are happening in the new districts, FINO PayTech has reached out to over 11 lakh customers of the mandated 28 lakhs, spread across the rural belts of Chhattisgarh.

"FINO PayTech acquires and services customers across 2722 villages and 58 wards in Chhattisgarh by organising camps in rural areas. We are working at a rapid pace to complete the acquisition process of the mandated customer base of 28 lakhs so that they can benefit from the advantages of branchless banking," said Sivaram Maganty, Vice President, Customer Acquisition Group,
FINO PayTech.

As the pioneer in creating payments technology systems for facilitating branchless banking and effectively making BC model work, FINO PayTech has set benchmarks. Today, it reaches out to and impacts the lives of over 55 million customers through 39,000 customer service points spread across 26 states.

About FINO PayTech:

FINO PayTech is India’s largest business and banking technology platform with extensive service delivery network enabling Financial Inclusion. FINO PayTech, created by a consortium of banks and other sectoral entities, works closely with banks, insurance companies and Governments in facilitating access to financial services to the unbanked and underserved segments of the population. It services over 50 million customers spread across urban and rural areas in the country providing a range of financial services viz savings, remittance, insurance, credit etc. FINO PayTech aims to provide financial services using all available platforms that helps reach a large section of the population in an affordable way. (www.finopaytech.com)