Infosys is
embarking on training India Post staff in how to use its Finacle banking system
after completing the roll-out of the system at 155,000 post offices in India.
India Post is
moving to the user acceptance phase of a project that began in August 2012,
after Infosys won the contract to supply a core banking system to India Post.
C. N. Raghu, head
of Infosys in India, said that, with 40% of the Indian population having no
bank account, India Post with 155,000 branches is the ideal organization to get
rural people into the banking system.
India Post has
one branch per 8,000 people and 21km. “We have finished our part of the project
and will start user acceptance,” said Raghu. “When we have finished that,
the government standards agency will look at it and then it’s up to India Post
to start using it.”
Infosys is to
roll out 10,000 tablet devices to India Post staff that will integrate Finacle
and enable the company to provide mobile banking services to rural people. This
is the second project won by Infosys and, if successful, more tablets will be
rolled out.
This will ensure
banks can connect the last mile to citizens, according to Raghu. “An
India Post worker will be able to take the banking system to people that can’t
reach a bank.”
More people will
want to set up bank accounts as the Aadhaar (UID) project – the Indian
government's plan to issue all of its citizens biometric ID cards – gathers
pace. With a unique ID, many more people will be able to set up bank accounts.
The combination of the reach of
India Post and the technology will help Indian citizens that have so far been
left out of the banking system. “This could be a powerful tool for financial
inclusion,” sad Raghu.
The Indian
government stands to benefit when cash currently invisible to the financial
system re-appears, much of it taxable. According to research from Gartner,
Indian banking and securities companies will spend about 417bn INR on IT in
2013, compared to 369bn INR in 2012.
There is pressure
on Indian banks to become more competitive and gain large customer bases. The
Reserve Bank of India – which regulates the Indian financial sector – recently
announced guidelines for new companies to enter the banking sector which is
leading to greater competition.
In May this year
the Department of Posts (DoP) awarded Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) a
six-year contract worth 11,000m INR to provide an end-to-end IT modernization
program for India Post.
The program
includes developing and supporting mail, finance & accounts, HR, customer
interaction management solutions including the rural ICT platform, data
migration, infrastructure, call center and centralized with 24-hour service
desk operation for all DoP.
As core system
integrator, TCS has responsibility for the overall integration of the
end-to-end security system Enterprise Management System (EMS).
SOURCE:
http://searchcio.techtarget.in/news/2240205218/India-Post-banking-system-roll-out-moves-to-user-acceptance
