txtWeb, a SMS-based platform for information delivery which is funded by California-based Intuit, has said that it is looking for a banking partner to deliver SMS-based financial services to rural areas.

In India, the RBI has permitted customers to transfer Rs 5,000 by using SMS. Ms Srividhya Ramarathnam, Business Head, txtWeb, Intuit India, said this could not have come at a better time for her company. “As soon as we can find a bank who will partner with us, we will go ahead,” she told Business Line .

txtWeb uses SMS to provide information to its users. For instance, if a person wants to find the status of his train booking, he has to send the message "@mypnr" followed by the 3-digit code and the 7-digit code for the PNR and he will get the response. The message has to be sent to a Karnataka-based mobile number and standard SMS rates apply to each SMS.

Discussing the rationale behind using SMS in an age when everybody is talking about smartphones and apps, Ms Ramarathnam said, “We have around 70 million Internet connections in India and 700 million mobile users. Around 90 per cent of the mobile users in India don't have any access to the Internet.”

To accelerate app development, txtWeb targeted students in IIT Delhi and IIT Mumbai, apart from some colleges in Bangalore. This was done because SMS is a way of life for students, said Ms Ramarathnam.

Today, the company said that it has over 800 apps (the company treats every unique keyword used to get information, like "@mypnr" as an app), of which only around 15 to 20 were developed in-house. “Around 40 per cent of the apps are from students and 30 per cent from working professionals. The service has 7 lakh users and around 8 lakh requests are made each day,” said Ms Ramarathnam.

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