ENABLING. Digital Financial Inclusion. For Rural Community In Bihar.

Transcription

1 ENABLING Digital Financial Inclusion For Rural Community In Bihar

2 Civilization of Equality is manifested when the aspirations of women members transcend the boundaries of limitations. Bihar will be witnessing a Cultural Renaissance in rural areas when JEEViKA Didis will become the face of Rural Banking as Bank Sakhis over a period of time. Sujata Chaturvedi Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Bihar SHG members associated with JEEViKA are becoming the torchbearers to take banking to the door steps in rural areas. A classical case of Women Entrepreneurs taking lead in serving the needs of society. More milestones will be evident in future progressively as Bank Sakhis will be touching the Souls of People through their service. Arvind Kumar Choudhary Secretary, Rural Development, Bihar

3 JEEViKA 3 JEEViKA Bihar is India s third most populous state, home to 8 percent of India s population. It is predominantly rural, with nearly 80% of its population living in rural areas with 34% of the population below poverty line. The GoB (Government of Bihar) has been implementing the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project (BRLP) through JEEViKA, which is a World Bank supported poverty alleviation program since JEEViKA is also Bihar s designated State Rural Livelihoods Mission and responsible for implementing the World- Bank and Central and State Government supported rural development projects in all 534 blocks of Bihar. The program aims at social and economic empowerment of the rural poor in Bihar. Objectives of JEEViKA y Enhancing income of the rural poor through promotion of sustainable livelihoods y Developing organizations of the rural poor and producers to enable them to access and better negotiate services, credit and assets from public and private sector agencies y Play a catalytic role in promoting financial inclusion in rural Bihar Since it s inception, as a small-scale project in just 18 blocks, JEEViKA has transformed into a state wide movement* : 8.8 million Rural families 7,90,411 Self Help Groups 46,756 Village Organisations 706 Cluster Level Federations Operational in all 534 blocks of all 38 districts of Bihar Credit portfolio of INR billion, developed and managed by local community based institutions Cumulative Community Investment funds of INR billion Mobilised cumulative group savings of INR 11 billion *As on December 2017 JEEViKA Self-Help Groups have emerged as enabling platforms for better access to financial services including savings, credit and insurance. Rural women of Bihar have emerged as trusted clients of the banking systems, collectively leveraging more than INR billion or USD 788 million of formal credit till date. Improved access to credit and savings has unlocked their entrepreneurial potential, creating new jobs and enhancing incomes.

4 4 JEEViKA Why Digital Financial Services Programme Bihar ranks 32 nd in the CRISIL Inclusix index of financial inclusion and 29 th in the financial education survey conducted by NCFE (February 2018). People struggle to effectively use their bank accounts due to low financial awareness and inadequate penetration of banking channels, especially in rural Bihar. People per bank branch* People per ATM* In Bihar, there are 15,188 people per bank branch as compared to the national average of 11,534 people per bank branch. In Bihar, there are 13,212 people per ATM as compared to the national average of 6,057 people per ATM. Bihar ranks the lowest in terms of ATM density in India. Digital financial services have emerged as a new wave of hope to provide last mile connectivity in the most convenient and affordable manner. In the Indian context, while there has been tremendous improvement in financial inclusion indicators, the gender gap in access to finance between men and women remains substantial. Indian women are 8% less likely to own a formal financial account and 12% less likely to use digital services offered by these accounts. MicroSave s report on Agent Network in India indicates that more women agents on ground can increase account opening and transactions by women and highlights that women form 51% of the customer base of female agents compared to only 42% in case of male agents. JEEViKA has tried to develop the capacity of community members in financial management and connect them to formal financial institutions. Recently, efforts have been made to graduate members into individual banking clients. However, JEEViKA is facing certain challenges in achieving the same: Poor quality last mile banking services Low financial literacy Lack of suitably designed banking products for poor, leading to limited product offtake Lack of alternative channels to service SHG accounts and community based organisations, leading to predominant cash usage for SHG transactions Lack of transactional history of individual SHG members with the banks on digital platform To achieve financial inclusion of the community, JEEViKA launched the Digital Financial Services Program by roping in female community members to work as bank agents, called as Bank Sakhis (Bank female friends). Approaches JEEViKA has rolled out various cash-lite models for its community members in these models, JEEViKA is experimenting with different types of front end technology and financial instruments for store of value FRONT END TECHNOLOGY STORE OF VALUE INSTRUMENTS Kiosk ( Laptop) Micro ATM Mobile Bank Account Mobile Wallet PAY ONLINE JEEViKA is testing different cash-lite approaches to explore which approach is : Easy to operate for customers and BC agents Scalable Cost effective for customers Economically viable for BC agents *Source: RBI data, as on 31st December 2017

5 JEEViKA 5 About Digital Financial Services Programme JEEViKA s Goal JEEViKA aims to improve the economic condition of the community at large in Bihar by providing a bouquet of financial services which are affordable and convenient to access. To achieve this goal, JEEViKA is trying to address constraints at both demand and supply sides of financial services provision. Demand Side Jeevika s Action Strategy Create awareness in the community about various financial services and alternate banking channels Supply Side Partnered with various types of banks, mobile money providers, corporate BCs to test various types of approaches of providing digital financial services in rural areas, especially to women Improve last mile connectivity by deploying various alternate banking channels Increase trust and confidence in service providers by deploying Bank Sakhis amongst the community members On-boarded community members as BC agents and connecting community members to existing BC agents Is delivering digital financial literacy to community JEEViKA S Support Capacity Building y Initial training to Bank Sakhis y Continuous handholding and monitoring of Bank Sakhis y Building capacity of Community Based Organisations to manage Bank Sakhis Financial Support y Establishment support to Bank Sakhis in the form of grant and loan y Income deficit support to Bank Sakhis for the first 6 months Banking solutions being provided to rural masses by JEEViKA Didi as Business Correspondent Agent is semblance to Democratization of Technology I am sure very soon she will earn the epithet of Banker Didi for herself. It has the potential of turning the Spirit of Banking more attainable through them. Balamurugan D. CEO-Cum-SMD, JEEViKA

6 6 JEEViKA Kiosk JEEViKA has adopted Kiosk model to provide convenient banking services to community members. In the Kiosk model, laptop is the primary device for service delivery and other devices such as microatm, printer and morpho device are also used. Bank Sakhis are able to leverage the same assets such as laptop and printer to provide other non-financial services like ticket booking, photocopy etc. to generate additional income. For Kiosk model, JEEViKA has partnered with banks such as Madhya Bihar Gramin Bank (MBGB), Punjab National Bank, and Central Bank of India. Benefits for JEEViKA Community Members y Avail of various banking services without any paper work within the village y Loan repayments directly in SHG account at affordable cost y Avail of a bouquet of non-financial services Jeevika has rolled out Kiosks in 14 districts of Bihar. 221 Bank Sakhis have been trained and selected and 129 CSP outlets are live as on March ,835 Savings Accounts opened INR 13,00,000 worth of transactions per CSP per month (Average fig.) INR 7,000 commission earned by Bank Sakhi per month (Average fig.) I like to transact with Rubi (Bank Sakhi) as she explains everything to me very patiently and calmly - Manju Devi Manju Devi, aged 40 years is a community mobiliser in Pawna village of Agiaon block of Bhojpur district. She has now become a regular saver and deposits small amounts of INR 500-1,000 in her bank account after getting the facility of Bank Sakhi for banking services. Now almost all the women members in the SHGs managed by her have got their bank accounts opened. These women members were easily able to open their bank accounts through Bank Sakhi without any paper work and introducer requirements. Bank Sakhi counter has become a mini bank for women in Pawna village, where women feel comfortable to come for banking transactions.

7 JEEViKA 7 Micro ATM JEEViKA is testing the MicroATM model to open low cost Customer Service Points. For this, it has partnered with financial service providers such as IDFC bank which offer an easy to operate, portable and user friendly interface to provide banking services in a paper-less manner. IDFC Bank has provided tab-based MicroATMs which have touch-based user-interface, a supporting card reader, and integrated device for biometric authentication of transactions. The total cost for starting a CSP outlet with IDFC s microatm is around INR 25,000-30,000. Benefits for JEEViKA Community Members y Avail of wide variety of banking services and products y Open instant paper less savings accounts using e-kyc y Loan repayments directly in SHG bank account through remittance facility Jeevika has rolled out MicroATM outlets with IDFC Bank in three districts of Bihar- Samastipur, Darbhanga and Sheohar. For the first phase, JEEViKA and IDFC bank have identified 130 village panchayats and 92 CSP outlets are now live. 27,645 IDFC Savings Accounts opened INR 22 lakhs worth of transactions per CSP per month (* Average figure) INR 4,000 commission earned a Bank Sakhi per month (on average) Journey of an emerging entrepreneur Nidhi Kumari is a member of Mausam SHG in Baheri village of Darbhanga district in Bihar. In July 2017, she started her CSP outlet. The establishment of CSP has brought respect and dignity in the life of Nidhi. She is able to earn an income of Rs. 10,000 plus per month, along with efficiently handling her household responsibilities. Her outlet has also brought a huge relief to people especially to women who struggled to transact at bank branches. Earlier, they used to stand in long queues and were not able to transact for amounts lower than INR 5,000. Women in the community find it comfortable to transact through Nidhi as they are generally hesitant to transact through male staff at bank branches. They are now able to transact for smaller amounts within few minutes through Nidhi in a paperless manner.

8 8 JEEViKA Mobile JEEViKA is testing mobile as a user interface for Bank Sakhis to provide doorstep banking services to the community members. The front-end technology used to deliver services is a smart phone and a morpho device which are low cost and provide portability to Bank Sakhis. For this, JEEViKA has partnered with financial service providers such as Airtel Payment Bank. In Airtel Payment Bank, bank accounts are opened in a paperless manner. These bank accounts can be used for banking services such as deposit, withdrawal, fund transfer and non-financial services such as recharge and utility payments. These services can be availed through CSP outlets of Airtel Payment Bank. Benefits for JEEViKA community members: Doorstep banking- Able to transact from their Airtel bank account anytime as Bank Sakhis come to their homes for conducting transactions. Facility for self-initiated transactions- Airtel also provides the option of conducting some of the transactions such as balance enquiry, fund transfer, mobile recharge and utility payments even through basic phone using USSD or IVR at no cost Send loan repayment instalment directly into SHG bank account at reasonable cost through basic feature phone Loan withdrawal by SHG members using Airtel JEEViKA got accounts opened for community members in Airtel Payment Bank Rolled out this initiative on a pilot basis in 10 blocks covering 14 village panchayats. Bank accounts for community members got opened instantly through e-kyc JEEViKA gets the members sanctioned loan credited in Airtel Payment Bank account Community members call the Airtel agent whenever they want to withdraw loans Airtel agent comes to the member s house for disbursing loan amount 5,000 Airtel bank accounts have been opened Members withdraw their loan amount through biometric authentication

9 JEEViKA 9 Mobile Wallet JEEViKA has initiated a pilot to use mobile-based electronic wallet to provide facility of anytime and anywhere banking to community members. The mobile-based electronic wallet can be used to make instant payments to any person, transfer money to any bank account, make utility payments or mobile recharge. For this JEEViKA has entered into a tie-up with Vodafone s mobile wallet M-Pesa. M-Pesa wallet can also be accessed through basic feature phone without any internet using USSD. Through M-Pesa, community members in rural areas will now be able to instantly repay loan instalments to banks through their M-Pesa account accessible on their mobile phones. This saves them time, cost and hassles of travelling to the banks every month. To provide easy cash-in facility for M-Pesa wallets within the village itself, JEEViKA has appointed M-Pesa agents amongst the community members. These M-Pesa agents are now able to earn additional income without incurring any capital investment, as they can facilitate transactions using a basic feature phone. JEEViKA has rolled out this initiative on a pilot basis in two blocks Maner and Bihta of Patna district. After successful pilot, the initiative will be scaled up in other operational areas of JEEViKA. Quick and Easy Money Transfer Service Anita Devi, an M-Pesa agent in Kaspur village in Maner block feels that M-Pesa has brought relief for SHG members as they don t have to go to bank to deposit SHG funds. 4 Village Panchayats covered 7 M-Pesa Agents 378 SHGs covered & 3,601 M-Pesa wallets opened They are able to instantly send money during SHG meetings. She is happy after becoming an M-Pesa agent as she is now able to recharge mobile and DTH for herself and others anytime and anywhere. In additional to her work as Community Mobiliser in JEEViKA she is easily able to work as an agent in M-pesa and earns additional income. INR 6 Lac worth of M-Pesa transactions per month Additional initiatives by JEEViKA for wider acceptance of mobile wallets amongst community members Continuous handholding support to its members on how to operate M-Pesa wallets Transaction charges for transfer from wallet to CBO s bank account borne by JEEViKA (during the pilot period) Plan to offer low-cost mobile handsets to members in easy instalments Pilot testing the dual authentication technology where SHGs financial transactions are approved by at least 2 office bearers on mobile using individual password.

10 10 JEEViKA Vodafone M-Pesa Dual Authentication Vodafone M-Pesa opens a virtual wallet in the name of SHG and maps all three office bearers numbers to this wallet. During the SHG meeting, cash collected by the office bearer is deposited in any one of the three office bearers wallets through M-Pesa agent. The amount deposited is also reflected in the wallets of the other two office bearers. Any one of the office bearer can initiate the transaction for sending money to SHG bank account through her wallet. The other two office bearers receive the SMS to approve the transaction and any one of them can approve the same by typing their PIN. After successful transaction, all three office bearers receive a confirmation message. M-Pesa s dual authentication technology is providing an added layer of security and transparency for SHG transactions through M-Pesa wallet. Digital Finance interventions in JEEViKA will pave way for a more responsive and transparent service ecosystem while creating meaningful employment for hundreds of rural women emerging m-pesa-rs.xx.xx 1. Send Money 2. Mobile/Data/DTH Recharge 3. Bill Payment 4. Shop and Pay 5. Agent Locator 6. My Account 7. Manage Request as new-age digital entrepreneurs. Vinay Vutukuru Task Team Leader, World Bank

11 JEEViKA 11 Learnings Results of the DFS programme of JEEViKA indicate that if banking services are provided through easy-to-use technology, at door step and through a local community member, they will be welcomed and adopted by the rural poor whole-heartedly. Community members are now ready to avail multiple services from their bank accounts after learning, testing and using alternate banking channels. Improved last mile connectivity to community members for availing banking services Increased awareness and comfort in using alternate banking channels Improved usage of individual bank accounts Reduced cash carrying risk for SHG member Generated sustainable livelihood option for community members through Bank Sakhi approach 221 Bank Sakhis are working under different approaches with multiple partners to provide financial services to around 1.2 million people in rural Bihar. Way Forward In the first phase of the programme, JEEViKA has succeeded in helping SHG members to access their individual bank accounts close to their homes. In the next phase, JEEViKA will be focusing on making all SHG transactions cashless by facilitating both deposit and withdrawal in SHG accounts through dual authentication technology. JEEViKA will also be establishing new relationships with various private and public sector banks to increase the outreach and penetration of CSP centers for the community. Lastly, JEEViKA will also be developing a comprehensive framework to measure the impact of the programme. Leverage trail of cashless transactions to provide digital credit to members Last mile connectivity- On boarding of SHG members as BC agents and leveraging existing agents for SHGmembers transactions by capacity building Make SHG transactions cashless and secure- Introduce dual authentication technology where S HG transactions are approved by atleast 2 office bearers on mobile or microatm Improve support to Bank Sakhis- Develop Cluster Level Federation as sub BC to Corporate BC Introduce pension and insurance services On board merchants to promote cashless transactions by community PROJECT TARGET- MARCH 2019 On-board 750 Bank Sakhis Reach 2.1 million people in rural Bihar

12 INITIATIVE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH JEEViKA An initiative of Government of Bihar for Poverty Alleviation (with financial assistance from The World Bank) Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM), Bihar Rural Development Department, GOB Vidyut Bhawan, Annexe-II, 1st & 2nd Floor (Southern Wing) Bailey Road Patna , BIHAR Phone: Fax: info@brlp.in Web: