TCS, Bartronics in race for the five years contract estimated at Rs 100-120 cr.
As RBI pushes commercial banks to provide financial services in rural areas as part of its financial inclusion plan, this is expected to create new vistas of opportunities for the information technology (IT) companies in India.
According to highly-placed sources, public sector lender Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) recently floated a financial inclusion tender which is being chased by top IT and technology services providers. Companies like TCS, Bartronics and Little World are said to be in the fray for the five-year contract which is estimated to be in the range of Rs 100-120 crore.
“The bank is evaluating the bids and is expected to award the contract in the next one to two months. As per the tender document, the bank will appoint a solutions provider who will provide end-to-end solutions for its financial inclusion plan,” the sources added.
As per the tender document, the solutions provider will not only appoint business correspondents (BCs), but will also be responsible for any financial transaction. The solutions provider will also be accountable for any lapses in the system. The BoM has identified 1,215 villages to be covered under its financial inclusion programme by March, 2012. The bank has appointed BCs in 60 villages as of now.
Recently, the RBI asked commercial banks to provide basic banking services in villages with a population of 2,000 and above, by 2012. The banks have also been asked to plan to cover villages with a population of less than 2,000 in an integrated manner over the next three to five years.
Ramesh Ramanathan, founder of Bangalore-based micro finance institution, ‘Janaalakshmi’ said, “IT companies have the technological edge to provide banking services and they also do some of the financial work through their BPO units. So, it is but natural that companies in this space want to work as solutions providers for financial inclusion programme.”
He also said that this was expected to open a new revenue stream for them as a solutions provider would receive the revenue depending upon the number of transactions. As the inclusion spreads in rural areas along with more financial transactions, it could give good returns to those companies, he added.
