Mahindra Finance Uses IT to Augment Rural Presence
By Abhinna Shreshtha
Mumbai, Jul 26, 2007

With branches spread all over rural India, the Mahindra and Mahindra subsidiary faces a number of unique problems, but through prudent use of available technology it has developed as a leading non-banking finance company in India

While enterprises around the country are trying hard to target urban customers, Mahindra finance is busy targeting the multitudes living in India's rural and undeveloped regions - such as Agartala, Shillong, Ranchi, etc. Due to this, the company has been facing unique hurdles.

According to Suresh A. Shan, national head (Information and Technology) of Mahindra finance, customer satisfaction is of paramount importance and with unique hindrances that had to be overcome, it was imperative that an indigenous and customized solution be developed.

According to Shan, typical problems faced by its clients are that they live in areas, which don't have even telephone lines let alone internet connection. Majority of the clients are neither computer literates nor tech savvy. Hence, along with having the necessary expertise, Mahindra's employees must be able to explain even the minute technical details to their clients, if necessary. Shan says that for Mahindra, e-business isn't an electronic, but an emotional business carried out via personal interaction with the client.

At the out set, Mahindra finance was using a FoxPro legacy system, which proved inadequate once their services began to expand. This is why, around 1999, it began using Oracle business applications - such as Oracle OFAS, etc. Most of these applications have been developed in-house to suit their distinctive needs.

Data from their various centers are stored at an in-house developed central data storage system, based in Mumbai. The management of this data center has been outsourced to firms like PCS, HCL, etc. Nearly 363 of their 425 braches are currently connected via a lease line from Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) with Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) being the fall back option. Their annual expenditure on technology and IT is around Rs.6 crore.

Mahindra Finance claims to currently engage in procuring new handheld currency scanners for its field agents, as well as improving the minicomputers currently used by its employees. These minicomputers - developed by Hyderabad-based Visiontech - are linked to the central database and fulfill various functions like providing field agents access to relevant information regarding the client as and when required; creation of receipts for payments made by clients. It claims to be the only Indian company to utilize this device on a national scale. It also aims to provide kiosks at all locations as well as computers for back-office people in the future. The company is also toying with the idea of turning to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, etc. to make it's business process more efficient and reduce the dependency on unreliable power supply.

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