Financial Inclusion (FI) can
be defined as providing affordable access to basic banking products and
services, like savings, loans remittances, insurance, etc., to the hitherto
excluded and often underprivileged and disadvantaged sections of
society. Absence of service providers in the area, high cost of
banking service, timings, lack of awareness, illiteracy, etc., are found
to be some of the reasons for the hitherto excluded not showing
interest in the banking system. These sections basically
comprise daily wage landless laborers, unorganized sector employees,
marginal farmers, urban slum dwellers, etc. The objective of FI is
to expand and spread banking reach to unbanked areas. The
application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for
providing banking facilities at the doorstep holds the potential
for enhancing the FI initiatives as for unbanked people,
`branchless banking' through retail agents or business correspondents may
be far more convenient than visiting a bank.
Computer and telecommunication technology is currently
being increasingly used in the process of FI. Technologies based
on ICT products, such as ATMs, mobile ATMs, smart cards,
prepaid cards, Internet kiosks, bill payment systems, mobile
banking, SMS banking, low cost hardware, terminals and
laptops, handheld devices – point of sale/electronic data
capture/simputers/personal digital assistants/programmed mobile,
etc., will have a long-lasting impact in the entire process of
FI. |
