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In the name of financial inclusion, there has been a spate of measures encouraging rural India to open bank accounts, whereas once upon a time this would have been an alien idea to people living in the villages. And even if it’s not the easiest space to operate in, opportunities are emerging for the entrepreneur. State Bank of India and others have been in the rural market. Customers range from businessmen and zamindars to low-income albeit ‘above poverty line’ (APL) families. However, over time bank accounts tend to become dormant and that’s not all. Against that setting, the small business that opts to take on financial inclusion as its commercial mandate must know what it’s getting into.
Ground realityIt’s known that unique bank offerings are yet to reach many Tier-3 and Tier-4 towns. In spite of global attention on ‘financial inclusion’ and mobile penetration growing in once remote parts of the country, new methods of transactions haven’t quite taken off. And large business names can’t serve all the opportunity in the rural sector.
Founder and CEO of YTS, Shweta Aprameya, set up the company in December 2013 to end up growing its presence in five States – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, NCR, Maharashtra and West Bengal. YTS now enjoys a base of more than three lakh consumers, operating with the strength of about 65 employees and 2,000 agents. It offers a range of instruments, only staying away from ‘savings’.
“We’re catering to anyone who crosses from BPL category to APL. In most cases, this means that they are moving from unskilled to semi-skilled and, therefore, are able to generate an income of ₹90,000 to ₹3 lakh a year. We call them the ‘aspirer’ category of consumers,” Aprameya explains.
No easy businessYTS specialises in enabling mobile transactions in rural India.
“Payments and remittances are sure business for us. We’re beginning to offer insurance and lending. We’ve got an integrated platform that allows us to offer more than one product, delivering both offline and digital services,” says Aprameya.
Khushroo Panthaky, Partner, Walker Chandiok & Co LLC, explains, “For a start-up to take this on, a lot of time, effort and monetary investment will have to go into creating awareness amongst rural consumers for better understanding of financial planning and to enable them to use modern technology.”
Aprameya is clear about the path ahead. “Large companies have built brands over the years in this space. We’re looking at no less,” she declares.
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