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Priya Nair

Mumbai, Sept. 25 Atom Technologies, part of the Financial Technologies Group, is planning to offer banking correspondent services through a recently set up subsidiary, ‘Grameen Pragati.’

The company is currently running a pilot project for mobile payment services jointly with a regional rural bank in Uttar Pradesh. It is also in talks with a couple of micro finance institutions based in Rajasthan and Maharasthra to offer the same, said Mr Dewang Neralla, CEO of Atom Technologies.

Grameen Pragati, which is a no-profit making Section 25 company, is likely to start offering banking correspondent (BC) services by October, he said.

It will also work with National Bulk Handling Corporation, a sister company of Atom Technologies, which has a presence in 18 States, in addition to hiring its own agents. This will give the company about 500-1,000 agents across the country to begin with.

The company will use Atom Seva, a mobile-based banking microfinance platform that enables banks to offer on-the-spot cash transactions. The solution has been developed by Atom Technologies and supports multiple products like deposits, loans, insurance claims and disbursements, among others, Mr Neralla said.

Using a mobile phone, a smart card and a hand-held device, the agent will be able to perform transactions such as cash deposits or withdrawals, and give a printout to the customer on the spot. The device has a voice prompt that will inform the customer of the transaction being carried out, in the local language.

“Right now, the technology uses fingerprint biometrics for verification. We are also working on voice biometrics and face biometrics as the next-level technology for verification,” he said.

According to Mr Neralla, the biggest challenge in financial inclusion with regard to technology is to bring down the transaction cost.

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