To extend banking facilities to the rural population, the
ministry is keen to try out technologies that will improve access.
With India witnessing phenomenal growth in the mobile subscriber
base, the government is keen to leverage this technology to provide
banking facilities in rural areas.
“In India, the average population per branch ratio is
16,129 whereas in the US and UK it is 2,702 and 4484 respectively.
There is a huge scope for banking in rural areas as they still
remain untapped and it can be possible through mobile banking. In
2009, there were 136 million mobile subscribers in rural areas
which are estimated to increase to 280 million by 2012 and 320
million by 2015. By next year the mobile subscriptions will cover
India’s entire rural population,” said S R Rao,
Additional Secretary – Information Technology, Ministry of
Communications & Information Technology, Government of India,
on the sidelines of CII’s Banking Tech Summit 2010.
The ministry is working out different technological options
through which banking could be made easier through mobile. Rao
informed that the technological initiatives in banking through
public private partnership could go up to the tune of USD 10
billion. “We are looking at shifting the cash base
transactions to electronic base. Projects worth Rs. 8,000 crore may
go to the private software companies this year.”
India’s largest bank, State Bank of India, too is looking
to take advantage of technology to improve its reach. O P Bhatt,
Chairman, State Bank of India said that the SBI is planning to open
about 1,000 new ATMs in the current year under its technological
initiatives. “We are emphasizing on mobile banking along with
some major technology projects like data warehousing this year.
Tenders will be issued for the payment system gateway solutions to
increase the use of technology,” said Bhatt.
The bank currently has 70,000 branches, 20,000 ATMs catering to 286
million customers. Out of 65,000 villages in India, only 30,000 are
covered by the commercial bank branches. Hence, more banks,
branches and services will be needed which necessitates greater
penetration of IT.
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