The Hindu Business Line : Austrian co in talks with co-op banks for e-passbooks

Mumbai May 22 In a bid to place co-operative banks (urban and rural) at the lip of modern knowhow, I-Pay Clearing Services Ltd, a software solutions provider, will soon offer "e-passbooks" to them.

The "e-passbook" will contain details of a customer's savings account. A customer will be able to check the last 10 transactions on a self-service terminal or kiosk, do internal account to account money transfer, request for a cheque book and get other details of recurring accounts and loans.

"Having met 50 chairmen of co-operative banks in Gujarat, Kochi, Maharashtra and Karnataka, the common perception is co-operative banks are losing clientele to savvy private banks, " said Mr Apoorwa Wagh, Vice-President - Marketing, I-Pay.

"For instance, a co-operative bank in Surat lost over 10 per cent of its clients as they demanded products like ATMs, credit and debit cards," said Mr Wagh.

I-Pay is a group company of Austrian multinational EFKON AG, specialising in transportation payment systems.

"Co-operative banks' business size is quite small and investment in technology is a problem. But we see this market untapped and have thought of providing them technology on around a 5-year contract. They do not have to invest in the technology we provide them as we will be charging Rs 6-7 per account holder," said Mr Wagh.

"Only 15 per cent of co-operative banks are computerised (mainly urban) while 40 per cent are semi-computerised." Mr Wagh further elaborated, "Data entry, cost of stationary and manpower are the pain areas for these co-operative banks. The RBI is also directing banks to move away from paper but for that the infrastructure has to reach the villages."

I-Pay plans to tap around 200 banks in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu and is working on at least top 50 banks in next two years. It could help earn around Rs 75 crore assuming each bank has 20,000-30,000 savings accounts, said Mr Wagh.

I-Pay also plans to offer call centre service to co-operative banks in the local language.

"With mobile phones connectivity across the country, there is a need for a call centre which can solve the problems of the rural customer. Once our offering of "e-passbook" has grown to 25 banks, we will get a data base and think of a call centre," he said.

"To provide this service, we will tie-up with GSM providers."

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