Driving Financial Inclusion: Manipal Business Solutions’ Innovative Digital Solutions for Rural India
CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Kamaljeet Rastogi, Chief Executive Officer, SahiBnk, Powered by Manipal Business Solutions
- Elaborate on the specific digital solutions and services that your organization offers to cater to Tier 3 and Tier 4 regions. What are the key challenges you aim to address with these solutions?
Being India’s fast-growing fintech we are at the forefront of driving financial inclusion by providing banking and value-added services in the hinterlands of India with our technology platforms and wide network of banking agents and business correspondents. Manipal Business Solutions (MBS) offers integrated fintech solutions like doorstep banking, rural extension branches, e-KYC platforms, and a supermarket for financial products. We aim to empower rural communities and unlock their economic growth potential with our below solutions:
SahiBnk: A financial services supermarket that helps consumers get access to the best-matched financial products and services. It offers tailor-made financial products in partnership with leading Banks and NBFCs providing better choice, convenience, and quality of products to the end consumer. MBS has a network of agents, exclusive SahiBnk stores and an app that makes banking seamless for rural customers. MBS also partnered with Assam Rural Infrastructure and Agricultural Services Society (ARIAS), enabled access to organized credit to dairy farmers and offered tailor-made banking products like Kisan Credit Card, Cattle Loans, Dairy Loans, etc. through SahiBnk stores and app.
Rural Extension Branches (REB): MBS is helping banks increase their rural branches and network, by offering ultra-thin branch facilities to banks in order to be able to reach the underserved segments in rural India. Our REB services include the entire setup of branches, identifying, hiring, training of agents and end-to-end management, which enables banks to operate branches at one-third of the cost.
SahiBnk Mitra – An integrated platform providing real-time secured doorstep KYC solutions to our partner banks’ customers at their doorstep through our network of authorized agents. We bring our Plug and Play, a regulatory-compliant solution that comes with quick deployment. SahiBnk Mitra is a single platform catering to the diverse and unique needs of different verticals of banks and financial institutions e.g., Assets, CASA, etc.
Besides this, we are accelerating financial inclusion with our extensive network of Business Correspondents (BCs) who serve as crucial intermediaries, enhancing access to banking services in remote and underserved regions. These BC agents help local communities with account openings, facilitating cash transactions, enabling money transfers, providing financial education, disbursing loans, and offering insurance services. Through their efforts, we are committed to advancing financial inclusion, ensuring that banking becomes more accessible to underserved communities.
The challenge we are trying to address is enabling banking services to the last mile population through an array of phygital services. Leveraging our technology-enabled distribution channel to lead financial inclusion by handholding ‘Bharat’ to be a part of the formal financial system.
- Tell us about the strategic partnerships or collaborations your organization has established with banks to facilitate doorstep banking and digital solutions. How do these partnerships enhance service delivery?
Our partnership with leading banks aims to build a sustainable network of Corporate Business Correspondents (CBCs) that will enhance the availability, affordability, and accessibility of financial services, particularly in underserved markets and rural areas. We are also working with banks to develop tailor-made financial products that are specifically designed for rural customers. Our extensive network of trained Field Business Correspondents (FBCs) enables banks to reach out to individuals with tailor-made products in remote areas and ensure they have convenient access to financial services. Our goal is to empower the underbanked communities, include them in the financial ecosystem, and contribute to the overall development of rural India.
- What is the extent of geographical coverage in terms of the number of pin codes and states where your doorstep banking and digital solutions are available? How do you prioritize expansion to new regions?
By leveraging digital technology, MBS has sped up financial inclusion in rural India, conducting more than 2 lakh doorstep KYCs per month, covering 9000+ pin codes across India. Our authorized SahiBnk Mitra agents go door-to-door to undertake Aadhar biometric KYC of banking customers, enabling real-time, secure, doorstep KYC solutions to digitally onboard customers, and verify identity in assisted mode.
We continue to play a vital role in transforming services in rural India with our wide network of 15000+ business correspondents and business facilitators covering 20,500 villages. We are also operating 255+ Rural Extension Branches in areas where banks can’t or need not set up brick-and-mortar branches. Besides this, we partnered with state governments to train and onboard 8,000+ women as Bank Sakhi to provide rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha.
- Can you provide insights into the current number of active clients and agents involved in your doorstep banking and digital solutions? How do you manage and engage this network effectively?
For doorstep KYC we have 4,000+ active agents across 300+ Cities and for other banking services we have a network of 15000+ business correspondents and business facilitators covering a span of 20,500 villages.
- What is the average number of daily KYC verifications and conversions your organization handles? How do you ensure compliance with regulatory requirements while maintaining a seamless customer experience?
Our authorized agents go door-to-door to undertake 10,000+ Aadhar biometric KYC per day. With SahiBnk Mitra technology-led solutions have transformed manual processes that were otherwise disconnected, rendering procedures seamless with workflow automation systems. With our matured presence in this industry and our associations with multiple lenders, we are bound to undergo multiple audits and hence we always have to be on top of our game to meet regulatory standards, which makes us best in class in terms of compliance adherence.
