Emphasis on role of technology in FI: Financial Inclusion and role of Information and Communication technology in it

Abstract

This report is part of the project on Financial Inclusion and role of Information and Communication Technology in it. Before going ahead with the field research, we studied reports of several committees and various financial inclusion models around the world. M-Pesa and mobile banking in Kenya and other sub-Saharan countries and TV banking in Nordic countries are few of those models. As part of Field research we interviewed 4 senior managers of Canara Bank, 2 Banking Correspondents, 1 Hardware support staff for terminal devices of BC (from Integra systems) and 15 families who transact regularly on the terminal of BC. Major findings of the study include high affinity towards TV banking than mobile banking and an effective network of BC will largely help in financial inclusion and in turn lead to increased transactions for the bank. Pushing of third party financial products will also incentivize BC and pushing financial literacy activities through BCs proved to be very effective than conservative methods.