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Priya Nair

Mumbai, Aug 11 After successfully offering savings deposits and loan products through biometric cards, Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd (FINO) is now looking to offer additional services such as person-to-person remittance or money transfer, said Mr Rishi Gupta, Chief Financial Officer and President (Sales & Marketing), FINO.

The company, which provides biometric-enabled smartcard solutions, currently offers remittance through smartcards under the Government’s National Rural Employment Guarantee programme. It has issued 4.5 lakh cards under the NREG programme. The card facilitates financial services such as savings, loans, insurance and remittances.

Banks such as Union Bank of India and ICICI Bank have shown interest in the person-to-person remittance service through smartcards. The target customer base is the migrant population from States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa, said Mr Gupta.

“There are some corridors like people from South India moving to Dharavi and people from Orissa moving to Surat. These are people who move in bulk and entire villages move in search of jobs. By offering money transfer through smartcards, banks can access and service customers in areas where they don’t have branches,” he explained.

FINO has tie-ups with 10 banks, 20 microfinance institutions and three insurance companies for providing smartcards to rural customers and to the unbanked population in urban areas. The financial institutions include Corporation Bank, Union Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Sewa Bank, ICICI Bank, ICICI Lombard, ICICI Prudential, Axis Bank, ING Vysya Bank and Life Insurance Corporation of India.

While new banks are also showing interest in the smartcards approach to reach out to the un-banked population, FINO’s efforts this year will focus more on increasing the number of cards of its current partners, said Mr Gupta.

“Last year, we issued about 10 lakh cards. This year we want to increase the number to 30-40 lakh cards,” he said.

The company is also looking to tie up with some foreign banks to offer smartcards solutions.

While savings deposit products have been the most successful and popular with banks so far, some banks such as Union Bank and Corporation Bank have also successfully offered loan products.

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