Dear Comrades,
IT-major Infosys, which bagged the India Post contract last year to upgrade the department’s technology framework for financial services, is in its final stages of providing a software solution for a hand-held device to be used by the postal network. The device will help it deliver an array of financial products directly to the consumers even in the most remote areas.
The hand-held technology device to be used by the postman will ensure last-mile connectivity for banking transactions of India Post across its over 1.5 lakh branches. The country's second largest IT-services exporter has already developed the necessary software and is waiting for the hardware partner to be finalised, which will be decided by the Department of Posts.
Talking to FE, CN Raghupathi, head, India business unit, Infosys, said, “The idea is to make India Post a modern bank where the postman becomes a banking correspondent where he can do banking transactions with the hand-held device.”
Infosys bagged the multi-year deal from Department of Posts in August, 2012, valued at around R700 crore to bring about a technological transformation. Under the deal, Infosys will implement its core banking solution, Finacle and McCamish insurance product, which will connect 150,000 post offices and cover 200 million customers with India Post's Financial Services System Integration plan.
The ambitious India Post 2012 vision has certain key objectives such as modernisation and computerisation of all post offices, development of robust software systems, creating data centres and deployment of rural information communication technology infrastructure in over 1.3 lakh rural post offices.
“We are working on initiatives where 155,000 branches of India Post will become a modern bank,” said Raghupathi.
India Post is one of the largest providers of financial services in the country with an account base of around 22 crore and a deposit base of over R5,53,234 crore. Besides, Infosys is also engaged in customising its insurance product, McCamish, to suit the Indian conditions as part of the India Post deal. “We are converting the McCamish product to an Indian system as most insurance products are more attuned to the developed markets,” noted Raghupathi. India Post provides two types of life insurance — postal life insurance and rural post life insurance.
The Indian government IT services business is estimated at close to $3 billion. For FY14, Nasscom has forecasted revenue from the domestic market to grow at 13-15% to touch R1.18-1.20 lakh crore, higher than the projected growth rate of 12-14% for the export business.
http://www.financialexpress.com
