SPECIAL FEATURE
FORBES
AUTOMATING SELF-SERVICES Hi-tech building blocks are being used to enable diverse micro transaction needs of the citizens
T
ransaction growth is the natural
network, which is at present support-
outcome of economic growth.
ing over 15,000 installations. It has a
Major sectors across the board
comprehensive offering that includes
are faced with tremendous challenges in
supply of hardware, software and support
dealing with this growth while catering
services spanning over 125 service
to the consumers’ demand for greater
locations all over the country. FTL has
convenience and efficiency in handling
established a state-of-the-art national
their transactions.
network operations-and-control centre at
Forbes Technosys Ltd. (FTL) is a
Thane where it provides managed services
pioneer in transaction processing
support to its clients in banking and ATM
solutions, services and networks that help
services, power and utilities companies for
organisations handle large transaction
bill payment processing, cheque truncation
volumes effectively and efficiently, while
systems and financial inclusion.
improving quality of their services and reducing costs. FTL’s portfolio includes e-Governance
Driven by innovation FTL is driven by the need to provide
solutions such as G2C transaction kiosks,
innovative products, services and solutions
bill payment kiosks, PoS terminals, elec-
to customers. In addition to selling
tronic cash registers, portable biometric
solutions, FTL is working with government
enabled platforms for UID registration
departments and public utilities on a
and authentication, franking machines for
public-private partnership model basis
postal services, stamp duty collections and
(BOO, BOOT) in order to enable automa-
judicial franking.
tion in several areas including ticketing, bill
FTL provides integrated solutions and services and has a pan-India support
payment services and G2C transactions. Through partnerships with Department
FACT FILE • Forbes Technosys Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Forbes and Company, is a pioneer in self service automation with a strong focus on banking, telecom, power, government and retail. • Forbes and Company (F&CL) founded in 1767 by John Forbes from Aberdeenshire in Scotland. Forbes has diversified business interests in shipping, engineering, water purification systems and technology. • Forbes is a part of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group which has revenues of around USD 2.8 billion (FY10 est.) and an asset base valued at USD 1 billion. The Group is a conglomerate with diverse business interests in construction, shipping, healthcare, energy, engineering and technology. Other subsidiaries of F&CL include Eureka Forbes, SCI Forbes, Nypro Forbes and Forbes Bumi Armada. Shapoorji Pallonji is the largest private shareholder (18.5%) of Tata Sons Limited, the holding company of the Tata Group.
34
egov / www.egovonline.net / August 2010
“WE ARE WORKING ON PILOTS FOCUSED AT END CUSTOMERS” Ajay Singh, CEO, Forbes Technosys Limited
How is Forbes different from other Kiosk companies? Forbes is a systems integrator and maunfacturer of Kiosks. Our differentiators are that we have a control over every aspect of the Kiosk, from design of Kiosk – hardware & software to operations in the field. We have an ISO 9001:2000 plant and software development centre at Thane. These products are supported in the field by 500+ personnel at 100+ locations across the country. We have set up an integrated National Network Operations Control Centre to manage the large network of Kiosks across the country. This centre continuously monitors each Kiosk up to the component level (24x7x365 days) and helps allocate and manage breakdowns. Is Financial Inclusion an important area for Forbes? Financial Inclusion, both urban and rural, is crucial to India’s growth and is the future of inclusive banking. India’s huge telecom reach has to be replicated by the banking industry to take banking to the masses. While there are several challenges to accomplish this, Government initiatives like UID can be a catalyst in the financial inclusion process. FTL has launched a series of products for finanical inclusion which include Bio-metrric enabled & solar powered ATMs as well as Portable MICRO ATMs for Banking Correspondents.
of Posts, FTL is providing next generation
FTL is engaged in the roll-out of India’s
franking and stamping solutions in differ-
first multi-city, multi-channel, multi-modal
ent states of the country. FTL has been
network that will enable anytime bill pay-
responsible for the first implementation
ments, mobile recharges, ticket bookings
of judicial franking systems in the country
and a host of other services.
in the state of Bihar. FTL has launched a
FTL’s goal is to use high-technology
series of products for financial inclusion
building blocks to provide products and
which include biometric-enabled and solar
services to satisfy the diverse and special
powered ATMs as well as portable micro
needs of the Indian consumers and make
ATMs for banking correspondents.
their life easier.