egov November 2013

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Rajiv Gauba, Additional Secretary, DeitY, Ministry of Communications & IT, Government of India

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november 2013 | VOLUME 09

Jiwesh Nandan, Principal Secretary, IT & Electronics, Mining & Additional Sources of Energy, Government of Uttar Pradesh

n ISSUE 11 n ISSN 0973-161X

A Global Conference on

Financial Inclusion

& Payment Systems

24-25 October, 2013 Eros Hilton, New Delhi

Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Punjab

Anurag Jain, Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India

Dr C Rangarajan, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Government of India

Financial Inclusion

Can it change the game? Vivek Atray, Additional Secretary, Electronics & IT Department, Government of Haryana, Managing Director, HARTRON

M Narendra, Chairman & Managing Director, Indian Overseas Bank

Shubhalakshmi Panse, Chairman and Managing Director, Allahabad Bank

Prerna Puri, Secretary, Information Technology, Additional Secretary, Home, Chandigarh Administration

T K Ramachandran, Secretary, Information Technology Department, Government of Tamil Nadu

Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, Information Technology & Communications Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Pankaj Kumar Bansal, Special Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Mission Director, NRHM, Government of Tamil Nadu

Organisers

host partners

Department of IT Government of Odisha

Towards A Digital Economy 24 January 2014, Bhubaneswar • Conference • Expo • Awards Chief Guest

Programme Chair

Shri Naveen Patnaik

Shri Madhusudan Padhi,

Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha

Commissioner-Cum-Secretary, Department of IT, Government of Odisha

Glimpses from eOdisha 2013

partner publications

november 2013

Contents issue 09 nâ&#x20AC;&#x201A; volume 11 second grid grid name

in person

Pankaj Kumar Bansal

Special Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Mission Director, National Rural Health Mission, Government of Tamil Nadu

52 in person

Vini Mahajan

08 | cover story

Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Punjab

Banking on Financial Inclusion

in person

Vivek Atray

Additional Secretary, Electronics & IT Department, Government of Haryana, Managing Director, Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation (HARTRON)

in person

56 in person

Dr C Rangarajan

Kumar P Saha

Prerna Puri

Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Senrysa Technologies Pvt Ltd

Secretary, Information Technology, Additional Secretary, Home Chandigarh Administration

in person

Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister Government of India

Anurag Jain

Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India

Chairman, Basix India

Secretary, Information Technology Department, Government of Tamil Nadu

in person

Shubhalakshmi Panse

Ajay Singh

in person

M Narendra

Chairman & Managing Director Indian Overseas Bank

30 in person

Shashank M Joshi Managing Director, Money-on-Mobile

32 in person

K N C Nair CIO Muthoot Group

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

in person

T K Ramachandran

Vijay Mahajan

20 Chairman and Managing Director Allahabad Bank

64 in person

Rajiv Gauba

Chief Executive Officer, Forbes Technosys Ltd

Ranjit Nambiar

Director â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sales (IAM) South Asia, HID Global

42 in person

Mohan Jayaraman

Managing Director, Experian Credit Information Company of India Pvt Ltd

42 in person

Rajat Verma Head (BFSI) AGC India

Additional Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communications & IT, Government of India

12 special feature

Rethinking Financial Inclusion, the MasterCard Way

28 EPFO

Adoption of Electronic Modes of Payments by EPFO

43 special feature

Initiatives in Financial Inclusion

46 Innovation

Great Age of Innovation

further reading Editorial 05 NIIT 61 News 51

Financial Inclusion for Equity

inancial inclusion is a key pillar of e-Governance. While e-Governance can bring efficiency and transparency to the government services, it is only through Financial Inclusion that we can have equity. Discernible progress has already been made in improving access to financial services for the masses, but lot more work needs to be done. Poverty and exclusion continue to dominate socio-economic and political discourse in the country. The government is taking lot of initiatives to ensure that a largest possible section of society can be included into the financial system. Today many citizens from marginalised sections of society are unable to avail of banking other financial services, as they might not have the complete set of KYC documents. Aadhaar is a foolproof system of identification, and no resident can have two numbers because Aadhaar is based on a combination of standard information like name, age and biometric information which is unique to every person. On 8th October 2013, the Union Cabinet took the landmark step of approving the National Identification Authority of India (NIAI) Bill, giving a statutory status to the UIDAI, which is issuing the 12-digit Aadhaar number to the residents of the country. Before this the UIDAI had been operating through an executive order, due to which the Supreme Court passed the recent judgment saying that Aadhaar number is not compulsory for availing benefits. The Bill, which is likely to be taken up in the winter session of Parliament, is long overdue. There was always a need to give a statutory backing to the UIDAI for issuing Aadhaar numbers and delineate the power and the functions of the authority. The UIDAI project, it is envisaged, will lay down a foundation for better delivery of public services and targeted subsidies. As it is an easy and accurate system of confirming the identity of a person, this initiative is also capable of enabling Financial Inclusion of the poor. There is already a notification from RBI saying that Aadhaar numbers can be used as a KYC proof for opening a bank account. By 2014, it is expected that UIDAI will have achieved about 600 million enrolments all over the country. On 24th and 25th October, 2013, we are having the event called Financial Inclusion Payment Systems (FIPS) at Hotel Eros in New Delhi. At the time of penning this editorial, we are deep into the nitty-grittyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s of arranging this mega event, which will be attended by the whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s who in the area of banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI). If you are at the event, you could already be reading this issue of the magazine, which will be launched at the FIPS event. We hope you will be able to make it to the event and take part in the crucial deliberations on the important financial issues.

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Resorte Marinha Dourada, Goa

Higher Education

Accelerating Growth of Higher Education in India

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cover story

Banking on

Financial Inclusion inclusive growth is reflected in the policies and regulations That Government of India and Institutions like RBI, IRDA, PFRDA, etc., have been developing over the past decade. these policies have enabled banking sector to take a lead role in promoting financial inclusion

hile the growth that India has seen during the past decade has been impressive, poverty and financial exclusion continue to dominate the socio-economic

and political discourse. Even though the Indian economy has recorded impressive growth rates until recently, its impact has sadly not fully percolated to the lowest deciles, because large sections of our society continue to be excluded from the financial system. In developing economies like ours, the banks, as mobilisers of savings and allocators of credit for production and investment, have a very critical role. Hence the financial sector has a tremendous role to play the role of an agent of change and ensure redistribution of wealth in the society.

Position of Households availing banking services

As per Census 2001

Households

Total Number of Households

Number of households availing banking services Percent

As per Census 2011 Number of households availing Total Number banking services of Households

Percent

Rural

138,271,559

41,639, 949

30.1

167,826,730

91,369,805

54.4

Urban

53,692,376

26,590,693

49.5

78,865,937

53,444,983

67.8

Total

191,963,935

68,230,642

35.5

246,692,667

144,814,788

58.7

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

cover story

Extent of Financial Exclusion in India Financial inclusion attempts to deliver financial services at affordable costs to the common man so that large sections of society can be served. During the last few years the Government of India has taken a large number of initiatives in order to promote financial inclusion. Financial inclusion and unemployment are also found to be correlated. Along with various poverty eradication and employment generation programmes, focus should also be on the financial inclusion policies as a means of ameliorating interwoven case of poverty and unemployment. In the past, the Public Sector banks in India have demonstrated resilience in the face of the recent global financial crisis, nevertheless, these banks should adopt strong and urgent measures to reach the unbanked segment of society and unlock their savings and investment potentials. To accomplish this task, a majority of the Public Sector banks have already adopted the Core Banking Solutions (CBS). Appropriate technologies have to be in place for promoting financial inclusion. For the Government of India, inclusive growth has always been a priority. The agenda of inclusive growth is reflected in the kind of policies and regulations that the policymaking and regulating institutions, likeGovernment of India, RBI, IRDA, PFRDA (for micro-pensions), - have been developing over the past decade. The banking sector has taken a lead role in promoting financial inclusion. There has been in multi-fold increase in the number of back branches, especially in rural areas; the branch network was around 8,000 in 1969 and now it is more than 89,000, spread across the length and breadth of the country. “The costs of

Dr K C Chakrabarty

Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India

“We have defined Financial Inclusion as the “process of ensuring access to appropriate financial products and services needed by all sections of the society in general and vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low income groups in particular, at an affordable cost in a fair and transparent manner by regulated, mainstream institutional players”. We consider Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy as twin pillars where Financial Inclusion acts on the supply side i.e. for creating access and financial literacy acts from the demand side i.e. creating a demand for the financial products and services” providing financial services to all citizens can be brought down by enabling financial institutions in the country with innovative solutions from ICT,” says Anurag Jain, Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance. The KYC norms for bank accounts with smaller sums of money have already been relaxed. In rural areas we have a system where the new account holders can be introduced by local citizens. Aadhaar can also be very useful for financial inclusion, as it provides all the citizens of the country a rather foolproof way of proving their identity in an easy and seamless manner. Also now Public Sector banks providing the poor and marginalized sections of the population a choice of a ‘no frills account’ where the minimum balance is nil or very small but having

restrictions on number of withdrawals, etc., to facilitate easy access to bank accounts.

Initiatives in Rural Areas The villages in India are witnessing a flurry of activity, thanks to the financial inclusion initiatives of banks. Most of the banks are now busy appointing business correspondents (BC) or opening up ultra small branches in villages under the financial inclusion plan. The banks have also launched a pilot project on smart card based business transactions through Business Correspondents (BC) model. As financial illiteracy and lack of basic education are the prohibiting factors leading to non-access of financial services, the Public Sector banks are taking many initiatives to educate the local population in modern banking system. There are more interactions between the bank officials and the rural population, so that the people in rural areas develop confidence in modern banking. Many of the Public Sector Banks have also developed efficient initiatives to resolve grievances regarding the services being rendered by the Business Correspondents. A Grievance Redressal Officer has been appointed in each Zone to ensure that the grievances received from the clients in rural areas are promptly and satisfactorily dealt with. In case, the compliant remains unresolved for up to 60 days of filing, the client has the option of approaching the Office of the Banking Ombudsman concerned for redressal of his grievance. The list of grievance redressal officers is usually given at the website of the Public Sector Bank. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

In Person

Dr C Rangarajan

Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Government of India

Financial Inclusion on the Horizon

“While financial inclusion can be enhanced to a large extent by improving the supply side or the delivery systems, it is also important to note that many regions, segments of the population and sub-sectors of the economy have a limited or weak demand for financial services,” says Dr C Rangarajan. In conversation with Kartik Sharma

o you think schemes like Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and Aadhaar linked money transfer will help the government in enabling every section of society to access banking and insurance related products? The instruments like Aadhaar will help, but I think we need a more fundamental change in the system in order to be able to reach to the remotest parts of the country and also to reach to the vulnerable and poor people. Financial Inclusion is a process through which vulnerable groups and poor people are brought in the ambit of organised financial system. So as long as they remain outside the organised financial system, they are subject to exploitation. In fact numerous surveys have shown that some of these people do not get credit even from the unorganised sector. Therefore the objective of Financial Inclusion should be first, to bring within the fold of the organised financial system the groups which are not so far being reached by the banking system or other financial institutions and provide them the ability to transfer funds. Second and more importantly the credit value system has to be improved. These people have access to the kind of credit that they need for leading their lives. Facilities have to made available to these people for receiving and paying money, and everyone should also be able to receive credit. It is by developing such systems that we can have effective Financial Inclusion.

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

In the last decade India has seen the development of Self Help Groups (SHGs). But these groups are majorly concentrated in the southern part of the country. Should there be some organisational mechanism to do away with such regional disparities? The Self Help Groups have done a good job in the southern part of the country. They have also started doing good work in some parts of North India as well. But we need a mechanism for organising such groups. They also don’t come on their own. I think we need a multiagency approach. In some part of the country, the cell phone booths might be playing a major role, whereas in some other part the cooperative credit organisation at the village level could be of great importance. We don’t really need to restrict ourselves only to central groups; rather we must create a mechanism so that it can flow to the small people. In fact a strong agreement towards setting up village level credit societies or cooperative banks which was once mission in the country needs to be evolved. Secondly regional rural banks should also play effective role as the concept of introducing regional rural bank was to reform banking systems in regional and rural areas. There is also the possibility of setting local area banks in the entire country. Hence I believe that central groups can play a very effective role in providing banking and financial services to each and every citizen. We need not to restrict ourselves with central group; rather we must focus on institutions which can enhance services at the grass root level.

What role can Business Correspondents play in enhancing and providing financial services to the people especially in rural areas? The model of Business Correspondent was introduced because of the inability and the practical difficulties involved in operation of commercial banks in remote villages. The idea behind introducing business correspondent model is to provide a link between the bank and the people. The model is leading to more people in the rural areas entering our financial system. But it is also true that we really need impactful distribution of Business Correspondents at the local level. Many of the Business Correspondents today are those who have been employed by technology companies.

Major thrust in Financial Inclusion is today being made by the Public Sector Banks. What kind of role do you see the Private Banks and other corporates playing in this area? Financial inclusion is the mission of every banking system. A banking system comprises of public sector institutions and private sector institutions. It is extremely important that private sector banks play an important role in terms of taking banking services to all parts of the country. There should be no distinction between the public sector and the private sector when it comes to the implementation of financial services to the people. Business Correspondents can be employed by technology companies or they can be recruited locally. Both public and private sector bank can have a role to play and business correspondent can enhance

In Person

Access to finance by the poor and vulnerable groups is a prerequisite for poverty reduction and social cohesion banking services in the country. I would also like to add that while financial inclusion can be substantially enhanced by improving the supply side or the delivery systems, it is also important to note that many regions, segments of the population and sub-sectors of the economy have a limited or weak demand for financial services

What about the viability of the Financial Inclusion models? Do you think that some changes are needed to improve viability?

Dr C Rangarajan

In my opinion, the Financial Inclusion related activities will become viable over a period of next five years. The act of bringing millions of people into the fold of organised financial sector requires a period of time to pay off. The banks have to develop their Financial Inclusion solutions while keeping in mind that it will take a longer period of time for these solutions to become variable. Time horizon is very important aspect. If the horizon is too short, then everything will become unviable. Viability can only come with a longer time frame. I think ATMs can be very useful for providing certain facilities at a cheaper cost. We also need to understand that most farmers earn their income only during certain seasons in the year, and they have to save this money to take care of their expenses throughout the year. Therefore it is very important to have a financial system that can provide people with a banking system so that they can save money, to sustain themselves and their families for the rest of the year. A healthy financial system will help in bridging the gap between all sections of the society. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

special feature

MasterCard

Rethinking Financial Inclusion, the

MasterCardWay

Ann Cairns, President of International Markets, MasterCard (right) presents Virginia Petersen, CEO of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), with an award to acknowledge SASSAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worldleading social grants payment programme at an event held in Pretoria, South Africa

Ed Brandt, EVP, Managing Director, Government Services & Solutions, MasterCard Ari Sarker, Division President, South Asia, MasterCard

well-developed, inclusive financial sector benefits individuals, governments and businesses. It also leads to a shift in payment of salaries, welfare support and bills from cash to electronic, which reduces costs and leakage. Not surprisingly,

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

the need for an inclusive financial sector has increased over the years. New technologies such as mobile phones, smart cards, and ATMs coupled with strong banking institutions have helped expand access and reduce costs for both, providers and clients. Despite these obvious advantages and progress, close to Three billion people around the world still lack access to financial services, according to the World Bank. Many live on less than US$ 2 a day. Indeed, financial exclusion disproportionately affects the poor in Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. While full-fledged financial inclusion may encompass savings and deposit services, payment and remittance, credit and insurance, a beginning has to be made somewhere. Digital payments are increasingly being recognized as a stepping stone to

MasterCard

special feature

MasterCard has been working with governments around the world in their efforts to drive financial inclusion and the social welfare payments

the journey of financial inclusion due to their versatility and wider usability.

Key Challenges

Ed Brandt

Expansion of inclusive financial services is not without risk, as the recent controversy surrounding excessive microfinance lending in India has demonstrated. Regulation can play a role in improving oversight and verifying financial information. Another big challenge to improving financial inclusion is achieving economies of scale. Achieving financial inclusion requires developing an entire ecosystem to support such a change. Women, who are often the focus of such programmes, must have greater legal protection and social equality.

Long-standing Barriers to Financial Inclusion Business Model for Financial Inclusion: It is well acknowledged that serving the unbanked and under-banked using the conventional approach is unviable. The traditional bank branch model costs too much – starting and running them and extending to new geographies – and the branchless model has not been fully developed and is not yet economically sound. Further, banks operating in the traditional sense (making money from float and fees) do not make money off the base of pyramid. Identification of Customers: There is a greater need to know who the right target people are. Know Your Customer (KYC) and other regulations are in place for the right reasons. But it is not easy unless the government creates a robust ID scheme. So there is a greater need for public private partnership that enables formal financial services. Education: The traditional approach has focused on budgeting and saving. But people need to be educated in helping them understand that these financial services are in their best interests. Lack of Electronification: There is also the need to optimally manage flow of funds ‘Cash-out’ is a dire need and may need suitable escrow mechanism.

Ari Sarker

Innovations Help Overcome Barriers MasterCard has been working with governments around the world in their efforts to drive financial inclusion and the social welfare payments. For example, in South Africa Social Security Agency (SASSA) chose MasterCard Debit card with an embedded chip to store both biometric data and payment application and more than 10 million cards have already been issued and being used for this purpose. Africa’s most populous country Nigeria has also selected MasterCard platform to deliver benefit payments. In the first phase alone, 13 million dual purpose cards would be issued that would also act as government ID with biometric authentication. Also, MasterCard is supporting the UN World Food Programme with electronic vouchers. MasterCard also brings global best practices to assist India realize its vision of financial inclusion. Firstly, there is immense value in public private partnerships with the government wanting to create the right environment and working with the private sector to accomplish their goals. Secondly, a whole ecosystem needs to be developed and nurtured to align motivations. Finally, stakeholders need patience and perseverance, while staying on the course. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

special feature

MasterCard

Two innovations in particular

Prepaid as Enabler for Financial Inclusion

that warrant attention Biometrics: There is a great need to recognise and overcome illiteracy tied to financial inclusion. Without biometrics taking a greater role, it is unclear how we can overcome this barrier. Fingerprint and voice recognition can provide the necessary security for access to accounts and reduction in

leakage while overcoming illiteracy. But Chip & Pin technology and biometrics increases security in markets, but requires greater literacy and numeracy levels. Aadhaar is doing exactly that. Mobile: There are many ways that innovations in mobile can drive financial inclusion, and most of the

The challenge with mobile transactions is the difficulty in building these systems from scratch. Innovations such as those from Colombia are relatively new and needs to be explored further in which at ATMs government benefits can be withdrawn using mobile phones. Engaging in emerging and developing markets is critical but developed markets cannot be ignored. According to the FDIC, in the United States, there are 44 million people lacking access to financial services; KPMG puts that number at 88 million though. The solutions may be different, but the need is still there.

The Indian Context With the world’s largest population of financially excluded persons, India presents both a daunting challenge and a unique opportunity to foster and accelerate financial inclusion. Even after decades of focus on financial inclusion, only one third of Indians have a bank account with the problem gaining acute dimensions in the rural areas where two out of three Indians live but just about six percent of 6, 50, 000 villages, have bank branches. Though there has been impressive growth in the e-Payments in India over the decades and especially in the past few years, it is mostly concentrated in the urban centres. India still lags in global rankings. It stands at 119th position among 148 countries in the World Bank’s Global Financial Inclusion Index and 21st across 34 countries in Mastercard’s Mobile Payment Readiness Index.

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

an active role in enabling e-Governance in the country and would enable transactions using the Aadhaar authentication.

success seen has been in the remittance and P2P space. However, rather than being limited to closed-user groups within the respective mobile networks, MasterCard can help ensure interoperability so that a user of mobile operator X can seamlessly transact with another user on a the mobile operator Y.

MasterCard is committed to the cause of financial inclusion in India and is jointly developing and supporting a number of initiatives, working closely with banks, central and state governments. These include assistance

It is encouraging to see that the new RBI Governor has set up a high level committee to focus on financial inclusion holistically. Indeed, India is well positioned to become the flag bearer in innovative solutions to financial inclusion. For example, in addition to the existing criteria, prepaid instrument should also be considered as a sufficient qualifier for financial inclusion. The Reserve Bank of India allowed cash withdrawal at PoS using open system prepaid instrument in September 2013. Hence, it is only logical that such prepaid instruments be considered by the RBI as a sufficient qualifier for financial inclusion, in addition to other criteria such as the basic savings bank deposit account (BSBDA) and the no-frills account (NFA). The cost for acquisition and maintaining a prepaid account is significantly lower than

MasterCard is playing an active role in enabling e-Governance in the country and would enable transactions using the Aadhaar authentication

in developing the strategic concept from a deep shared understanding of the government needs; identification and mobilisation of partners; and, last but not the least, implementation support. All this requires heavy investment and hence, the government agencies should be willing to pay reasonable fees, which by the way, are way below the prevailing costs being paid. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) using Aadhaar is a transformational paradigm but the main challenge is to link the Aadhaar number with accounts and to provide accounts to those who do not have one. Open system prepaid instruments can be used to address this challenge. MasterCard is playing

that for a bank account (BSBDA or NFA) directly residing in the bank’s Core Banking System (CBS). All the same, the prepaid instrument is extremely versatile and can be widely used across ATM, Point of Sale (PoS) terminals and even for online payment gateways notwithstanding that the acquiring bank may be different from the issuing bank. Likewise, the prepaid card account number should be enabled within the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) enabling beneficiaries with prepaid accounts to receive payments for the Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT). Such fresh and flexible ideas can indeed accelerate and expand financial inclusion in India – and the world!

IN PERSON

Anurag Jain

Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services Ministry of Finance, Government of India

Enhancing

Financial Inclusion in India “Government has issued detailed strategy and guidelines on Financial Inclusion, advising banks to open branches in all habitations

of 5,000 or more population in underbanked districts and 10,000 or more population in other districts,” says Anurag Jain. In Conversation with Nayana Singh

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

oday Financial Inclusion is a key focus area for the Government of India. Tell us about the work that you are doing for promoting Financial Inclusion in the country? We need to develop policies and systems for proving basic financial services like insurance, banking and the related facilities to all sections of society. It is well known today that the expansion of the banking and insurance networks are being planned very aggressively. RBI and similarly IRDA have already come up with guidelines that enable certain kind of branches to be opened without any permission. In the ministries last budget speech, the Hon’ble Finance Minister had set a very aggressive target for opening up of new branch offices for banking and insurance verticals. Another major step that we have taken is to map the entire country into zones that are not being adequately serviced by the banking industry. In such areas, other systems, like the Banking Correspondents model, are being developed to provide banking related services. In 2006, RBI permitted banks to use the services of intermediaries for providing financial and banking services through the use of Business Facilitators (BFs) and Business Correspondents (BCs). Business Correspondents act as retail agents of the banks in providing banking services at locations other than a bank branch/ATM. BCs and the BC Agents (BCAs) represent the bank concerned and enable a bank to expand its outreach and offer limited range of banking services at low cost, particularly where setting up a brick and mortar branch is

Financial Inclusion Banks play a key role in implementation of DBT and this involves four important steps: • Opening of accounts of all beneficiaries • Seeding of bank accounts with Aadhaar numbers and uploading on the NPCI mapper • Undertaking funds transfer using the National Automated Clearing House - Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (NACH-APBS) • Strengthening of banking infrastructure to enable beneficiary to withdraw money

not viable. BCs as agents of the banks, thus, are an integral part of the business strategy for achieving greater financial inclusion.

What kind of impact are the initiatives taken by the Finance Ministry having in the rural areas? Please tell us about the challenges that you face in bringing Financial Inclusion in the country. The challenges will always be there, but we are working to bring improvements. It is only a matter of time before we are able to reach out to every corner of the country. The point is that if you look at from the point of viability, then it becomes obvious that the brick and mortar kind of branches will not be financially viable in the sparsely populated rural areas. Therefore we need to come up with innovative approaches like Ultra Small Branches (USBs) and the BC model. Opening a brick and mortar kind of

IN PERSON

branch, even if it is of minimum staff strength, will cost lot of money, so we have to rely on the USBs and the BCs. You see an USB can work very effectively with only one employee and an affiliated BC. Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) are also allowed to open branches in Tier 2 to Tier 6 centres (with population up to 99,999 as per Census 2001) without the need to take permission from the Reserve Bank in each case, subject to reporting, provided they fulfil certain conditions. The challenges that we face are being overcome by use of new technology. Today BCs can share data by using small hand held devices. This enables us to reduce cost, while providing timely services in remote areas.

Anurag Jain

The government has come up with the ambitious Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme. What kind of impact do you see DBT having on Financial Inclusion? DBT will definitely serve as an incentive for the people to open bank accounts. After all, there canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be any DBT if people do not have bank accounts. In some places, where banking facility was not available, people had accounts in post offices or primary cooperative society. Now many of these institutions are not on CBS, so you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make transfer of funds. The postal departments are now having an aggressive programme for computerisation; once that happens they will be able to support DBT. Many cooperative banks are also developing the CBS platform. You see, the DBT will force players in the financial space to upgrade their technologies and that will be beneficial from the angle of financial inclusion as then these institutions will be able to deliver many more financial services.

What is the roadmap for implementing DBT in every government department? The DBT programme was rolled out on January 1 this year, beginning with 43 districts and expanding to 121 districts from July one. Transfer of LPG subsidy through DBT was rolled out from June 1 and now covers 20 districts. In LPG, over 2.8 million DBT transactions valued at `116 crore have taken place in seven weeks. The thing is that when people talk about DBT they usually mean Aadhaar linked transfers. Unfortunately in many districts Aadhaar is yet to be generated. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

IN PERSON

The Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme is currently under implementation. In this case the districts have been selected on basis of their success in enrolling the population for Aadhaar. The districts were the Aadhaar generation is highest have been taken up for DBTL. As of now this is working quite well. Once we have sizeable Aadhaar enrolment in all the districts, DBT will become the norm. The bulk of the work in DBT at the moment is in digitization of databases, re-engineering government processes for automating financial transactions, enrolling in Aadhaar and ensuring that every recipient has bank accounts seeded with Aadhaar.

ATMs have become very popular in the urban areas. Do you see the scope of using ATMs for improving access to financial services in rural areas? ATM can provide the 24X7 services, and so it is very important. In rural areas, we have issues about the timing of the bank branches. Normally the branches operate from 9 AM to 6 PM, but villagers normally want services early in the morning or late evening. It is also true that you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have bank branch everywhere. So ATMs are important as they will allow the citizens to access their funds in banks whenever they wish. The Finance Ministry has now asked state-run banks to expedite installing ATMs in rural areas.

Ministry of Finance has started the scheme to install White Label ATMs. What kind of progress is being made in that area? The banking space has seen considerable growth

through the ATMs, (approximately 87000 ATMs at present) but the same has been restricted principally to the urban/metro areas. Last year, the Reserve Bank of India, had allowed corporates to set up white label ATMs to increase the penetration of ATMs in several areas of the country. Most ATMs, or machines that dispense cash, are owned by banks. But ones that are owned and operated by non-banking companies are called while-label ATMs (WLAs). They function just

Financial institutions to upgrade their technology the same way as any other bank-run ATM. This scheme has picked up late. From Jan 2013 it is started so by Dec 2014 we should have 63000 WLAs in place.

In Kenya and few other countries of Africa mobile banking is a success story. But in India mobile banking is not picking up to a substantial extent. Why is that so? Efforts are being made to popularise mobile banking. Today most public sector banks have enabled mobile banking and it is matter of time before large number of consumers start recognising it as a good medium to meet their banking related needs. As far as policy front is concerned, all the regulations are in place, not it is only a question of taking the product to the consumer. In Africa, mobile banking is popular because it is the only channel for consumers

as on 31st March 2013 Bank Group

Rural

Semi urban

Urban

Metro

Total

Public Sector Banks

8552

18445

22518

20137

69652

Old Private Sector Banks 768

2760

2354

1684

7566

New Private Sector Banks

2214

6484

10995

15842

35535

Foreign Banks

244

966

1261

Total

11564 27710

36111

38629 114014

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

Over the last decade Public Sector Banks have made many

DBT Will Enable our

Number of ATMs in the country

who want to avail of banking facilities, whereas in India consumers have access to a range of facilities. Also the mobile banking charges need to come down. Another point is that even though today we have more than 70 crore mobile users, not everyone is using device with data connectivity. That too needs to change.

commendable efforts to integrate IT into their operations. What else can be done to leverage ICT to improve the efficiency of the public sector and cooperative banks? Today it is difficult for us to imagine banking without IT technologies. Most of the banks have integrated operations with Core Banking Solutions (CBS) in place, and most of these platforms are capable of talking to each other. The same is the case with ATMs. The Department of Financial Services has worked to make PSBs become clones in terms of technology, standardisation of manpower recruitment, accounting practices. Cooperative banks are different; their operations are such that they cannot immediately go to the CBS platform. NABARD came up of a scheme to put the cooperative banks on CBS, but its execution will take time. One reason why cooperative banks find it difficult to achieve a 100 percent implementation of CBS is the remote locations of branches. This also makes it impractical to roll out technological solutions to all branches.

What kind of role are the Private Banks playing in the area of Financial Inclusion? RBI has mandated that for every urban branch that any bank opens, it must also have certain number of branches in rural and semi-urban regions. So the network of the private banks in the rural and semi-urban areas will get automatically expanded as they expand in the urban areas. This will only contribute towards the fulfilment of the goals of financial inclusion.

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IN PERSON

Shubhalakshmi Panse Chairman and Managing Director Allahabad Bank

Promoting

Financial Inclusion

llahabad Bank is one of the oldest commercial banks in the country. In your opinion what are the most important contributions that Allahabad bank has made to the banking industry in the country?

We have been serving the country through 149 years of vibrant presence and we are proud to proclaim ourselves as the oldest joint stock bank in the country. From a modest beginning with handful of branches in the year 1865, the bank has today created a pan India presence through its 2716 branches. We have already crossed the mark of `3,00,000 crore business and are planning to achieve `3,60,000 crore mark by 2014. We have always focused on serving the common people. Today have 61 percent of our branches located in rural and semi-urban areas, this enables us to serve at the grassroots level. For resolving the issues of unemployment and income inequality, we have established 21 RSETIs (Rural Self Employment Training Institute) across India. These are sponsored entities of the bank. We are endeavouring to empower the rural youths through training and subsequently by providing finance for the productive activities undertaken by them. We impart skills that will help the youths in building their own enterprise. Years back the Bank was assigned the responsibility of being the Lead Bank in the areas that were not so strong as regards the infrastructure is considered. Allahabad Bank opened branches in all such areas of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

What kind of growth rate have you been seeing during the last few years? How do you see the growth prospects for the future? The Bank has been growing consistently in the past few years within a range of 14-15 percent. The last quarter saw the Bank registering a growth of 15.63 percent. We are targeting a growth of around 16 percent in our business for FY14. Deposits are also expected to increase by around 15 percent in FY14 and advances by almost 17 percent.

Tell us about the products that Allahabad bank has developed for providing easy loans to the student community? Along with the education loan scheme for

Reach Out in Rural Areas Under its campaign to ensure that each family has at least one account in the rural areas the Allahabad Bank has covered all the families in the Bankâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Service area villages with one account in each family. The Bank has also contributed in the urban financial inclusion by way of opening accounts of migrant labourers thereby facilitating remittances. The Bank has established 13 Financial Literacy and Credit Counselling Centres (FLCC) in the States of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, thus predominantly covering the Bankâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lead districts. In addition to the above 13 FLCCs, there are 17 Financial Literacy Centre (FLCs) functioning in the premises of all the 17 Lead District Offices of the Bank.

under graduate and post graduate studies, the Bank also offers Gyaan Deepika Scheme to parents or guardians of students who are pursuing school education from nursery to 12th std. The money can be used for admission fee, education fee and tuition fee. The Bank provides education loan for meritorious students under management quota for higher education in India and abroad. Here the educational Institutions have been classified under four categories and quantum of loan, security requirement and rate of interest have been made institution specific. Quantum of loan for studies in India has been increased to maximum `20 Lakh. For the girl students a concession of 0.50 percent in the rate of interest is offered.

How has the approach towards financial inclusion changed over the years? Financial inclusion is not a new concept for the banking industry. If we look back, we will find that way back in 1969 banks were nationalised with the objective of the inclusion of excluded economic sectors, social groups and regions into the formal financial system. Commercial Banks are committed to fulfil certain norms prefixed by the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India in the field of Priority Sector Lending which, I think, has been serving the cause to a great extent. However, there is no scope for complacency since a large number of landless and marginal farmer households and poor labourers are still excluded from the formal banking fold. Keeping them in view, Commercial Banks have been directed to take up Financial Inclusion initiatives which have been defined by the Rangarajan Committee on Financial Inclusion (2008). The committee recommended that a National Rural Financial Inclusion Plan (NRFIP) be taken up in a mission mode in a decentralised manner

IN PERSON

“The rural areas will be the driving force for the revival of the economy in the coming five years,” says Shubhalakshmi Panse. In conversation with Nayana Singh

“The rural areas will be the driving force for the revival of the economy in the coming five years,” says Shubhalakshmi Panse. In conversation with Nayana Singh November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

IN PERSON

Financial Inclusion Financial Inclusion has always been a priority for Allahabad Bank. The progress under the bankâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial inclusion plan is as under: T Bank has achieved coverage of 4311 villages on 30.06.2013 under its Board approved financial Plan by way of 116 brick & mortar branches, 4 Satellite branches, 22 villages by 3 mobile branches and 4169 villages through ICT based BC Model. T Out of 4169 villages,

218 Ultra Small Branches(USB) have been opened, where one Officer visits the village on all working days with Lap top having VPN connectivity to render all type of banking solutions. T Bank has enrolled 838209 rural population, out of

which 611549 Savings accounts have been opened in the FI implemented villages upto 30.06.2013 through ICT based BC model. T Bank has issued 410487 number of smart cards upto 30.06.2013, where transactions are being carried out through BCAs.

The Bank has also submitted the Three year plan for FI Implementation (2013-2016) for population below 2000 in 12785 villages allotted to it.

The biggest challenge

before the Indian banking

industry comes from the rising Non Performing Assets

from village to the state with a view to providing access to at least 50 percent of excluded rural households by 2012 through rural/semi-urban branches of commercial banks and regional rural banks. The remaining households are to be covered by 2015.

What is your view of the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme? What kind of impact is it having on the banking sector? Direct Benefit Transfer is a trend setter solution devised for expediting financial inclusion. It came into being from January 1, 2013. Under this system, the Government of India will transfer the subsidies and benefits under Social security schemes into direct cash transfers. To begin with, cash benefits under 26 schemes are being directly transferred into the bank accounts of beneficiaries in a phased manner in 43 identified Districts across respective States and Union Territories. Till now, `564 crores has been transferred through 10 million transactions as per the Ministry of Finance. This system is going to be most effec-

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

tive in cutting down leakages at the same time bringing millions of people under the fold of banking sector. This would be a good opportunity for banks to offer its products and services to people from these areas. Consequently, it will help in increasing the CASA (current and savings) deposits.

It is well known that the international financial system is going through a period of crisis. What is your view of the banking industry in the country? In the current scenario, where in the international financial system is going through a rough weather, Indian banking industry is also experiencing the heat. The developments taking place in global financial markets have also impacted the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy, which in turn has affected our banking industry. The most important challenge today for the Indian banking industry comes from the rising Non Performing Assets. Due to lack in demand for products and services, the corporate earnings have come down. With exports hard hit by the

recession in Europe and anaemic growth in the US, the India Inc. has been severely affected leading to increase in NPAs. The NPAs do not earn anything for Bank and in addition to this loss in income; banks have to make a provision from the income. This has created a pressure on margins and volatility in non-interest income of the Banks. In the quarter ended on 30th June, the gross NPAs of the most of the Government owned Banks ranged between 4.00 to 5.00 percent. The restructured debts are on the rise. The banks will have to set aside money to cover their restructured loans, bad assets as well as depreciation in the value of their bond portfolio. This is going to eat away their profits and capital base. In June 2013, the capital adequacy ratio of most of the Indian banks was in the range of 11.00-12.00 percent. Under international banking norms that came into play in April, Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s banks would need `5 trillion of capital in the next five years. In order to facilitate lending, when the scenario of normal credit demand comes back, the banks would require deposit. Now with proposed new banks entering the banking arena, the next round of battle on the Indian banking landscape will be fought for deposits. In this demanding business environment, improved operational efficiency will help banks in standing up to the challenges and enable them to maintain their health and profitability.

In your opinion, what is the roadmap for development of the banking sector in the country? The banking industry in any country plays a very important role, as it channelizes a major portion of the money. As far as India is concerned, we grew at a fiery pace of 8.5 to 9 percent from 2009-2011. Such high growth calls for consolidation of the economy. The present economic scenario of the country reflects exactly this situation. The entire banking industry and most of the businesses are undergoing course correction and are in a phase of consolidation. More than 60 percent of the population was not included in the banking system. The effort of bringing the excluded population in the fold of the banking system is causing empowerment of population at the bottom of the pyramid. The next five years will witness huge amount of activity in this space. The banking industry will be the driver of this change. The rural area will be the driving force for the revival of the economy.

IN PERSON

M Narendra

Chairman & Managing Director Indian Overseas Bank

Creating

Banking Opportunities

for Rural India

lease give us an overview of how the Indian Overseas Bank has grown over

the years?

Indian Overseas Bank was established in 1937 by the eminent visionary Shri M Ct. M Chidambaram Chettyar. IOB became an International Bank on the first day of opening itself. It has expanded the operations across India and beyond the shores. The Bank was the 14th and youngest nationalised bank at the time of nationalization in 1969. From a modest beginning, now the Bank has risen to the 7th position among the 19 nationalised banks. Bankâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business has improved from `113 crores with 195 branches at the time of nationalisation, to the present business level of `3,88,000 crores. Our 3027 branches demonstrate the strength and commitment to the sector. The compounded annualised growth in business (CAGR) over this period is significant at more than 20 percent. In overseas front, as of March 2013, the bank had 14 establishments, which include seven full-fledged branches (2 branches each in Hong Kong and Colombo and 1 branch each in Singapore, Bangkok and Seoul), 1 Offshore Banking Unit in Colombo, 3 Representative offices, 2 Remittance Centres, and 1 Joint Venture Subsidiary. The Bank has crossed a significant milestone with the opening of 3000th Branch in August 2013. It is noteworthy to mention that we have opened nearly 1,000 branches over the last

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are happy to be contributing in the rural sector, as it leads to upliftment of the rural economy by creating banking opportunities for a larger section of the community,â&#x20AC;? says M Narendra. In Conversation with Kartik Sharma

IN PERSON

three years. Bank crossed the 1,000 branch mark in Tamil Nadu, when it celebrated the Platinum Jubilee on 10th February 2012. As of now, we have 1067 branches in Tamil Nadu and 3027 branches Pan India.

Please tell us about the expansion that is happening in the rural and semi-urban areas? Out of 273 branches opened during 201213, 188 branches (68.86 percent) are located in Rural and Semi Urban centres, of which 92 branches are located in Unbanked Rural centres. As a matter of fact, our share of rural branches to total branches has significantly increased from 26.37 percent in March 2011 to 27.40 percent in March 2012 and further to 29.26 percent In March 2013. The share of Semi urban and Rural Branches to Total Branches increased to 57.10 percent in March 2013 from the earlier level of 55.25 percent (March 2012) and 51.66 percent (March 2011). This is as against nationalised banks average of 56 percent and New Private Banks average of 42 percent and Foreign Banks average of five percent. Our idea is to give more importance to the branch expansion in the rural and semi urban centres than giving merit to the business potential and profitability at rural centres. Though the Rural/Semi Urban braches contribute around 21 percent to our total business (rural at percent, Semi Urban at 12 percent) compared to business share of Urban at 22 percent and Metro at 57 percent, we are happy with the rural business because it uplifts the rural economy by creating more banking opportunities to a larger community.

In 2011, the then President of India presented the award to M Narendra, Chairman & Managing Director, IOB, in the presence of the then Union Home Minister, and present Finance Minister, P Chidambaram

What steps is IOB taking to extend banking services to villages and accelerate the pace of Financial Inclusion in the country? IOB implemented Financial Inclusion (FI) to provide access to financial services at an affordable cost to the vast sections of the disadvantaged and low-income groups who are hitherto excluded. IOB is also facilitating availability of easy savings, payments, credit, insurance and remittance related facilities. We have extended timely and adequate credit for both entrepreneurial and emergency needs which attempts to lift the poor out of the poverty.

RBI Outreach Programme Indian Overseas Bank is implementing RBI Outreach programme in the following 6 villages of Tamil Nadu State, for the total development of the villages: S.No

Name of the village

Name of the District

1 Vadagudi

Nagapattinam

2 Andarkulam

Kanyakumari

3 Thiruvalanthurai

Perambalur

4 Servaikaranpatti

Tirunelveli

5 Paluvanji

Trichy

6 Mookaiyur

Ramanathapuram

The whole process of taking Financial Inclusion initiative started in our Bank in 2007, when we started offering the No-Frill accounts, which can be opened easily and enjoy an easy credit of up to `25,000/- under General Credit Card (GCC). Despite these were available with restriction, we observed that geographical barrier of distance to the branch was the major constraint for the villages to reach out. In order to deliver the services, we introduced Smart Card Banking in Kuthambakkam village (Thiruvallur Dist) of our Nazratpet Branch in February 2008. A Business Correspondent (BC) was identified and Hand Held Device (HHD) was given to him to provide services. This methodology has helped to serve the people in a better way. Our Bank has conducted seminars on financial literacy in 25 centres in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka States in association with knowledge partner namely NITTE Education Trust, Mangalore.

What steps has IOB taken in the areas of Mobile Banking and Internet Banking? Mobile Banking was launched in our Bank in the year 2009 with a few services. During the course of the last four years, more features have been added to Mobile Banking. The functionalities have been incorporated in both the Java enabled mobiles as well as primary ones. Our Bank has also launched internet banking services in the year 2000. Many products have been made online in our journey during the last thirteen years. A year back, Internet bankNovember 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

IN PERSON

ing has been revamped in the latest Struts platform technology, which has some of the latest security features.

Tell us about your schemes such as the New Kisan Credit Card. How are they contributing in the agriculture development of the country? The New Kisan Credit Card Scheme has emerged as an innovative credit delivery mechanism for meeting both the production and investment credit requirements of the farmers. The scheme provides credit facilities to farmers in a timely and hassle-free manner. As per the extant guidelines of the scheme, the Kisan Credit Cards are given as ATM enabled RuPay Kisan Cards to farmers. RuPay KCC is actually a smart card that can be used at the nearest ATM/PoS for withdrawing cash. It removes the necessity of going to a bank branch to operate the account. I would also like to tell you that agricultural and rural development is one of the thrust areas of the Bank. IOB’s portfolio size in agriculture is growing every year in line with the target of Government of India. IOB is always contributing for the rural development by its policies, programmes and schemes. To meet the specific credit requirement of the farming community, IOB has developed many rural special credit products. IOB Green Credit is a scheme to meet both, short term production credit and long term investment credit, needs of the farming community. Any farmer owning cultivable land in his own name will be eligible for the

Dr D Subbarao, ex-Governor RBI, releasing a book on “Indian Banking Expectations” at the IOB Platinum Jubilee Commemorative Oration in Chennai. Looking on is M Narendra, Chairman & Managing Director, IOB

The compounded

annualised growth in

business (CAGR) over

this period is significant at more than 20 percent facility. This scheme allows farmers to have flexibility and choice in regard to the amount and use of finance with a suitable repayment schedule. The

Best practices in IOB for

implementing Financial Inclusion

•

Identification of BCs by Branches after conducting due diligence rather than employing a BC Network company. BCs are loyal to the Bank as they are local people and are selected by the Branch itself which creates a sense of belongingness. Transactions are on real time basis which eliminates the need

•

for reconciliation of accounts. Availability of more products at the smart card terminal will increase the volume of transactions ( we have operations in Savings Bank Accounts, Recurring Deposit, remittance to loan accounts and funds transfer etc) The viability of BC plays a crucial

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

•

role in successful implementation of F I projects. IOB facilitates more revenue stream for the BC to earn and remain in the job. Commission for opening new accounts, recovery and paying pension are being paid to them. Training is provided in handling Hand Held Devices and providing service to bank customers

quantum of loan is 50 percent of the value of land given under mortgage. The maximum loan limit under the scheme is `25 Lakhs.

Please tell us about any specific products that you have launched with the idea of empowering women? With a view to empower women by providing credit facilities to women farmers, a new scheme called “Bhoomisakthi” was launched by our Bank in September 2011. The scheme is formulated to provide financial assistance to women for all activities under Agriculture. Women farmers having farm land in their own name and tenant farmers, if the tenant is a woman are eligible for loan under this scheme. A concessionary interest rate of 0.5 percent less than the applicable rate for limits up to `50000/- and 0.25 percent less than the applicable rate for limits above `50000/- is offered under the scheme. In addition to that, processing charges, upfront fee and mortgage charges are waived for all loans under the scheme.

Financial Inclusion

Challenges in Financial Inclusion Santanu Sengupta, Conference Director - & Convener, Conference Advisory Committee, FIPS 2013

uring the past 5 years or more, Financial Inclusion, as a pivot for inclusive growth, has become one of the top policy advocacies worldwide. In India too it has been so. However, despite the euphoria, an obvious lack of implementation at the ground level has now become a talking point. The ICICI bank had undertaken the first biometric BC initiative, under the aegis of Nachiket Mor back in 2006, who is now, ironically, back as the head of RBIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Advisory Committee on Financial Inclusion. The reasons that led to the failure of the then ICICI initiative, have now been resolved, and the initiative is now all set to be a success story. In 2006-07, there was neither a clearly defined articulation of Financial Inclusion, nor any Payment and Settlement Acts in place. CGAP has pointed this out as one of the main reasons for the failure of BC model to take off. In 2008, the Committee on Financial inclusion led the policy roadmap. A broader holistic overview was given and the nation got a very clear exhaustive roadmap on all areas of financial inclusion as detailed out in the report later became a reference point as the Rangarajan Committee report on Financial Inclusion. Financial Inclusion is not about opening of bank accounts, as mere opening of accounts does not guarantee financial inclusion or anything exciting to the unbanked. This is borne out by the fact that about 100 million no frill accounts have been opened and hardly 12-13 percent have been put to use. The idea of opening a brick and mortar branch in villages with population below 2000 has also been considered. The banks have also been mandated to giving Rs 500 hundred overdraft to the newly opened accounts, but no clear picture or data

Santanu Sengupta is available as to how many crores disbursed or the list of beneficiaries. The chief cause of this failure has been attributed to poor Payment infrastructure and agency banking infrastructure? How can we make the unbanked poor people feel comfortable with the modern banking system? In view of the past experience of a struggling BC functioning and the lacunae in the payment infrastructure, a series of systemic changes have been brought in, bit by bit, by RBI. Many people view the work being done in this area as being too slow. But we have to be cautious when we are dealing with poor peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s money; after all, we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to lose that vital trust factor. I am sure in the coming days the issues of branches to ATMS to POS and payment instruments will all surge, as we put our infrastructure & the

process in place as without it our ever increasing economy will never be able to mature into a world class economy. A very important game changer could DBT, which if properly structured, will pave way for the financial super highway which our trillion dollars plus economy is heading towards, where all people from every section of the society can benefit. In this regard often the references to the Brazilian success story of Bolsa Familia and its impact comes to the fore. No doubt that has been a game changer for Brazil. Regardless of the size of the scheme and number of beneficiaries it has targeted, which is about a few million only compared to our millions of people who are being targeted in our country, it had suffered initially the same fate and only in the 5th /6th year onward people could comprehend the benefits and so the Brazil as a nation became stronger. India too is going through the phase of the learning curve, and we should all take efforts not repeat the same mistakes over & over again. There are many -many micro management issues in each of these drives and these need to be addressed as well, otherwise it may remain dysfunctional, disjointed or even get stymied. BC operations, inter-operability issues, with a gainful engagement, are a must if we are to succeed, as it is impossible to have bank branches in every village. All the vendors, aggregators and banks must remain healthy and profitable to discharge these duties. However, banks must also see the inherent business cases for a very profitable venture at the bottom of the pyramid and not as charity or philanthropy. The new banks that are going to come may fill in the gaps provided they learn how to remain sustainable while also providing banking related services to large numbers of people in our rural and semiurban areas. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

EPFO

K K Jalan, Central Provident Fund Commissioner (F&A), Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India

Adoption of Electronic Modes

of Payments by EPFO 28

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

The Employees’ Provident Fund came into existence with the promulgation of the Employees’ Provident Funds Ordinance on the 15th November, 1951. It was replaced by the Employees’ Provident Funds Act, 1952. It is now referred as the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 which extends to the whole of Indian except Jammu and Kashmir. The Employees’ Provident Funds Bill was introduced in the Parliament as Bill Number 15 of the year 1952 as a Bill to provide for the institution of provident funds for employees in factories and other establishments

EPFO

isation’s pension account through NEFT/RTGS and is longer left idle with the banks.

Efficiency and Transparency

he Payment System in India has undergone a sea change in the last few years and a number of initiatives have been undertaken to meet the requirements of the public at large. EPFO, one of the largest social security organisations in the world, has leveraged on the benefits emanating from technological developments in the banking sector and an in-house “New Application Software” to graduate to a greater adoption of electronic modes of payment for its provident fund subscribers and pensioners.

Switch to Electronic Format In the last few years, EPFO has seamlessly switched over to electronic payment system over paper based system. During the current year, more than 92 percent of provident fund payments have been conducted through RBI’s National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) system. Last year we had conducted 86 percent payment through NEFT. On an average nine lakh payments are made through NEFT per month by the organisation. It is important to note that in absolute terms, cheque volumes continue to be high in India at nearly 52 percent of total payment turnover, compared to eight percent of the total volume of provident fund payments through cheques. In the next few years as more and more branches of different banks are NEFT enabled, it would be possible for the EPFO to make nearly 100 percent payment through electronic means. Payment done through NEFT is fast and it ensures that cash is transferred directly into the accounts of the beneficiaries. EPFO has also implemented pension payments through the Core Banking Solutions (CBS) of different banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and those in public and private sector by uploading the data of the pensioners to directly credit the pension on a real time basis in the beneficiary’s accounts in the paying branches. The pension payments are being effected for over 40 lakhs pensioners every month on the CBS platform created by the banks. An EPFO pensioner shall have a minimum of at least twelve e-transactions every year, which is well above the national average. Again, money is transferred directly into the accounts of beneficiaries on a real time basis at no cost to the pensioners. The adoption of electronic mode of payment has ensured timely payment of pen-

Sanjay Kumar, Regional P F Commissioner (F&A), EPFO, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India

Adoption of modern electronic payment system by the EPFO has brought financial inclusion to all strata of society sion every month. The number of computerised branches of banks involved in disbursement of pension has nearly been one-third of all IT enabled branches in the country. It has been a herculean task for the organisation to have collected CBS account numbers from banks and to have data entered anywhere between ten digits to seventeen digits numbers into our system. The same arrangement shall also be put in place in respect of a few thousand pensioners who have opted for payment through the post offices once the CBS platform is available by India Post by early next year. The advance payment of pension is now remitted to the bank a day before credit of pension on the last working day of the month through RTGS/NEFT. The adoption of such an electronic mode of transfer of money for disbursement of pension has cut down of float money available with the bankers and EPFO has been able to earn interest of up to ten days with the new arrangement in place. The un-disbursed amount is re-credited to the organ-

The entire exercise of making online payments has been a low cost affair for the organisation. The cost incurred towards printing of bulky monthly pension statement has given way to preparation of a soft copy. This has been a major cost savings as part of the “Green Initiative” undertaken by the organisation. It has been estimated that the expenditure incurred in roll out of computerisation programme would be recouped by the organisation in a span of four years on account of savings in payments through NEFT instead of the existing practice of sending cheques by speed post. A single cheque is now printed for multiple payments through NEFT/CBS. The forwarding of cheques to banks and beneficiaries has been replaced by SMSs at different stages in settlement of claims. Any grievance arising out of cheques missing in transit and postal delays have given way to enhancement in customer’s satisfaction by efficient credit of payments through the electronic mode. It has been a conscious endeavour of the organisation to train human resources as an essential ingredient to man, run and supervise a safe and efficient electronic payment system. There has been a faster reconciliation of payments at the end of EPFO and the banks’ and this in turn has facilitated faster service charge payments to the bankers. The adoption of modern electronic payment system by the EPFO has brought financial inclusion to all strata of society. EPFO has been able to foster financial inclusion to much of rural India by extending the benefits of e-payments. The e-payments which have been adopted for provident fund subscribers and pensioners have been safe, simple and at no cost to the beneficiaries. The electronic transactions effected for the beneficiaries have witnessed a huge exponential rise in volume in the last few years. The adoption of electronic system of payment through the RBI operated NEFT and intra bank payment through the Core Banking Solutions of different banks has been a “win-win” situation for all stake holders EPFO’s provident fund subscribers/pensioners, the organization itself and the banks. The success of adoption of electronic payment system by EPFO depends in nearly 50 lakhs payments every month and as a measure of financial inclusiveness of all sections of the society. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

in person

Shashank M Joshi

Managing Director, Money-on-Mobile

MOBILE MONEY

mate benefit to the retailers. The consumers also benefit as no hidden or extra service charges are levied whey they load Money on Mobile on their m-wallet. It is very helpful for the majority of the unbanked population and for those people who have low-end mobile phones. We are also planning to launch our websites in various languages so that the consumers can access services in their native language. We will also switch to cloud computing once there is substantial expansion in our services.

ell us about Money-onMobile. What kind of response are you seeing in the market?

Money-on-Mobile is an electronic prepaid payment service provider; it is also India’s first operator and bank agnostic mobile payment system. The company first began offering B2B services in the year 2010. In the year 2011, the much awaited approval to commence financial services through mobile phones was granted by the RBI. This policy change has helped us attain our business objectives. Today Money on Mobile has roped in over 90,000 retailer touch points in the country and has presence in 300 cities.

How does Money-on-Mobile facilitate payments through mobile phones? Money-on-Mobile is a user friendly technology, which allows consumers to load their mobile phones with prepaid cash of various denominations, the minimum denomination being `20. This virtual money can then be used to purchase goods and services at retail outlets. Money-on-Mobile has successfully got 500,000 subscribers on board and touches a daily transaction volume of `20 million. They can also use the virtual money to pay post paid mobile bills, utility bills (like electricity and gas) and also purchase airline, bus and movie tickets. It can also be used to top-up any prepaid mobile or have a DTH recharge. As the service is independent of the consumer’s mobile operator or the bank, any mobile subscriber can avail of it through a SMS or mobile application-based platform. We have a network of around one lakh retailer touch points across the country and a presence in more than 300 cities. More

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

Tell us about your experience of working with various governments.

“With its m-wallet service, Money-on-Mobile makes it convenient for customers to make payments through their mobile phone,” says Shashank M Joshi. In conversation with Kartik Sharma and Rachita Jha

than 5 lakhs subscriber have enrolled and we are having transactions of `2.5 crores on a daily basis. In September, 2010 we had a turnover of about 50,000 a day.

How is your mobile wallet service doing in the Indian market? We are pleased to have launched the mobile wallet services in one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. With its m-wallet service, Money-on-Mobile makes it convenient for customers to make payments through their mobile phone. The team at Money-on-Mobile is highly experienced and they have knowledge of all the related verticals like Telecom, Finance, Operations, Training, ITES, Technology, Banking and Legal. This system is going to be of ulti-

It is difficult to enter in the government sector, but once you enter it becomes very streamlined process. I am quite pleased with the way we are providing services to the government. Recently I went to Darbhanga district of Bihar to launch mobile payment solutions for electricity bill and I was surprised to witness the enthusiasm of MD of Power Generation who explained the electricity employees about the benefits of e-Receipt. It really encourages us to work with government as the reach of government is very large in the entire country.

Please tell us about the technological systems that you are using for the Money-onMobile services? We are using a sophisticated technology so that we can provide services in the simplest possible manner to our customers. Even people who are not so tech-savvy can use our products. To make a payment, all the customer has to do is type a text message to Money-on-Mobile, telling us about whom to pay and what amount. Once the SMS is done, the amount is instantly transferred and both parties receive a confirmation. Our 24 X 7 customer care help the customers to understand the service much better in case of any error in the SMS.

In Person

K N C Nair

CIO, Muthoot Group

Bringing

Glitter of Gold

in Banking Sector

lease provide us with an overview of the work that Muthoot Group is doing in the financial sector in India?

Muthoot Group has 4400+ branches across the country; these branches are spread across 21 states and 4 Union Territories. Basically we are one of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest gold loan companies; our gold loan business continues to grow at a healthy rate. We provide loans to individuals who are ready to pledge their gold and are not able to approach banks for immediate requirement. We ensure that they are able to access formal credit within a reasonable time. When they come to us, they get a loan within minutes of pledging their gold to us. The formalities take very less time to complete. It is almost like going in ATM and withdrawing Cash. We are also contributing to financial inclusion. This is because more than 60 percent of our branches are in very rural areas where there bank branches are unable to reach. We provide loans in these areas and thus we save the customers from the associated risks of having to go to unorganized money lenders or brokers who charge very high interest.

Muthoot Group has applied for banking licenses. What kinds of opportunities do you see in this sector? From our point of view, Muthoot Group is a suitable candidate for being awarded the banking license in the country. This is because we already have more than 2500 branches in rural areas. It will be much easier for us to convert the branches into

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have a strong IT team here, we took around 18 months to develop a Core Banking Solution, which is flexible, user friendly and extremely cost effective,â&#x20AC;? says K N C Nair. In conversation with Sunil Kumar

In Person

banking operations. We also know the customers, as we have been operating in these areas for many decades now. All these are the factors that will help us provide high quality banking services to people in all parts of the country.

Can you tell us about your initiatives taken on the technological front? How did the company adapt to the technology? Any milestones you would like to mention specifically? We have been doing the transactions processing with each branch having a PC based LAN system, where the customer data is captured there with its own database. At the end of the day, we used to update the central system with all the transactions done during the day. This had many constraints as it could not enable us to provide anywhere, anytime, banking services to the customers; his relationship would be confined to any particular branch. Essential central control was also limited as each branch is having its own database, with problems like customer duplication across branches, laxity in KYC, etc. So we have developed a core banking solution and interconnected all the branches to the centralised database just like banks have implemented the core banking solutions. In our case we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any standard package available in the market. We decided to develop our own software considering all the pros and cons. Fortunately we had a strong IT team in house and it took around 18 months to develop the solution which is flexible, user friendly and extremely cost effective too. We could roll it out across all the branches within nine months. CBS helps our customer to do the transaction very fast. For example, he has to complete the KYC formalities one time. We take the required documents, scan it and feed it into the system. Also system takes the photograph thru the Web cam and store in the system and within 10 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 15 minutes, we can finfish all the processes. Technology is helping us to attain effective centralized control and better efficiencies.

When it comes to making IT implementations in a diverse organisation like Muthoot, what are the key challenges that you face? What are the solutions to these challenges? One of the major problems that we face is related to connectivity. As I mentioned earlier, we are having branches in very remote rural

Muthoot Group is

a suitable candidate for being awarded the banking license in the country areas, where connectivity is either unavailable or is irregular and of bad quality. This is a major challenge. To overcome this challenge, we have fine tuned the software that we are using for CBS so that it can work on the normal broadband connectivity. There is no need of dedicated line or leased line. Of course, we also face other challenges like nonavailability of regular power supply in remote areas. In such cases we have to manage with UPS and battery backup.

Financial Services are sensitive sector in the sense that they deal with the lifelong savings of the people. How are your technological solutions addressing these inherent complexities? Security issue wise, for the customer data, the privacy and confidentiality are fully ensured through the CBS system design. Encrypting of data is done before transmitting it to the central database. We have co located our servers in a highly secured Datacenter in Bangalore; we have also installed other security systems like filters, firewalls, intrusion detection system, and prevention system at the Datacenter.

To deepen the ATM infrastructure in the country, Government has permitted non-banks to set up, own and operate white lable ATMs (WLAs) in India. What kind of role is Muthoot playing in this initiative? In June 2012, the Reserve Bank of India had issued policy guidelines permitting non-bank entities to set up and operate WLAs in the country after seeking Authorisation under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. We are one of the few organisations that have been given the license to own and operate white label ATMs. Now we are at the final stage of implementing this initiative and in the next three years we could have more than 9000 WLAs in place. Muthoot Group aims to set-up these WLAs in three years time span â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1000 in first year; 2000 in second year and 6000 in third year. Having a dominant presence in the country with 4000+ branches in over 21 states & 4 Union Territories of India, the company has taken a strategic decision to establish 65 percent of these WLAs in semi-urban and rural areas. White Label ATMs will extend basic banking services, including cash withdrawals, to debit/credit/prepaid card customers of Indian banks, at convenient locations. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

In Person

Kumar P Saha

Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Senrysa Technologies Pvt Ltd

Taking

e-Governance to

Rural Areas

enrysa has a strong focus on the banking and financial Services space. What is your view of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme that the government has launched? With our experience in implementing financial inclusion in many parts of the country, we feel people are financially literate to some extent; but many people in rural areas are still not aware about various government schemes as they are not connected with banking systems. Even today people in rural areas need to walk miles to reach nearest bank and access banking services. Another reason for lack of awareness about banking and insurance facilities is the educational and cultural gap between the bank staff and rural masses. This kind of gap separates the rural customers from conventional banking system. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), which was started for proper utilisation of funds for upliftment of economic level of rural masses, has made it easier to encourage the rural populace to embrace the banking system. However, opening of bank account for direct benefit transfer is one thing and inspiring the rural customer for taking up various financial activities is something quite different. This is where the banks themselves and the administration have a key role to play.

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are keen to establish long-term relationships with our customers and meet their evolving needs by coming up with the best possible solutions,â&#x20AC;? says Kumar P Saha

In Person

You have also been working in the area of e-Governance. Tell us about your experience? Success of large scale service delivery projects in e-Governance depend on the will and cooperation of local administration. Technology has little role in success and failure of such type of projects. Senrysa has been lucky that in most cases, local administration was fully involved and they ensured that the project was successful. Service provider cannot make large scale service delivery project like financial inclusion successful, unless there is full involvement of the administration.

You have contributed in the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System. In your opinion, how challenging is this project, especially in the light of huge de-duplication of the data that is involved? Aadhaar Enabled Payment System or AEPS is another channel of transaction like ATM, mobile banking, etc. Basically AEPS is a low cost channel; as it requires little lead time to start transaction. In rural areas where delivery network is very poor, AEPS can be a favourable channel as after account opening, it take almost 15-20 days to deliver smart cards to the customer. But there are lot of challenges in rolling out AEPS, as large number of rural people have not received Aadhaar card. Slow progress in Aadhaar seeding with bank account is also an area of concern. De-duplication is a technological challenge that UIDAI has tackled with

do not have Aadhaar number. Therefore the authority should put in place an exception handling mechanism, which ensures that the technology is reasonably supplemented, so that it does not become an impediment between entitlements and beneficiaries. Supreme Court’s observations can be viewed as a guiding stricture that sets the intrinsic spirit of the effort on the right track.

How do you look at healthcare sector, as there is a lot to be done across the country? What role can ICT play in enhancement of services?

There has been a recent Supreme Court judgement regarding Aadhaar. What kind of impact will it have? Services cannot be denied in cases where residents

Today a large section of rural population uses mobile phones; this has opened up a huge avenue of service mostly in the area of mobile banking, G2C, B2C, etc., which was made possible only by technological advancement. Government’s decision to disburse payments directly to the beneficiaries’ account would propel further economic activity at the rural level, but success of this initiative will also

“DirectBenefitTransfer (DBT) has made it easier to encourage the rural populace to embrace the banking system” In rural areas healthcare service delivery is extremely poor due to inferior infrastructure, dearth of qualified healthcare professionals and poor communication facility. Technology plays a major role in providing healthcare at home or close to home. This means we can provide healthcare and care services to the users and reverse the historical delivery model. India can build a knowledge based expert system that will utilise the

Mobile phones can be used to beep important health messages across India, reminders can be sent to get children inoculated and advice can be given to pregnant women to get checkups in time deft competence by building a secure and robust infrastructure. Today India’s biometric database is one of the biggest of its kind with highest level of security. This by itself is a big achievement.

In what ways can technology play a seminal role in rural development? Please tell us about the initiatives that Senrysa has taken in this area?

country’s investment in fast broadband to provide tele-health services at rural community centres. Technology can harness the access to rural areas in the country in the healthcare space. For instance, mobile phones can be used to beep important health messages across India, reminders can be sent to get children inoculated and advice can be given to pregnant women to get checkups in time. Such initiatives will lead to lot of improvement in the quality of life that the rural masses enjoy.

depend on the adaptation of new technology by banking industry. Senrysa has been engaged in financial inclusion projects of banks for many years. Today people in every section of society are becoming aware of their financial rights. Direct Benefit Transfer has indeed been a boon to the rural development.

Tell us about some of the initiatives that you are planning for future? Rural banking is our major focus area. Today Senrysa is investing heavily on building new solution and services model based on Aadhaar and Rupay. Education, healthcare and agriculture are our other focus areas. Essentially Senrysa is focussed on building robust platforms for the rural mass. In healthcare, we are building small hand-held devices that will have access to a remote database containing information on various ailments and a possible line of treatments. Software installed in the hand held device will give proper guidance to the people so that they can undertake remedial measures in a quick time. The system will also collect data regarding different kinds of symptoms being detected in any particular geographical stretch. If any symptom is identified, the administration will be alerted so that timely measures can be taken to resist outbreaks of epidemics. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

Cyber Security

Ensuring Security of

Cyber Systems Abhilash Sonwane, Sr VP Product Development, Cyberoam Technologies Pvt Ltd

aving achieved Common Criteria EAL4+ certification, we are geared to strengthen our presence in government, defence, PSUs and other strategic enterprise organisations. A product that has earned EAL4+ is seen as a trustworthy security offering and the one that’s robust and methodically defined, tested and verified against globally recognised IT security evaluation processes. Cyberoam is all set to make more inroads following the attainment of EAL4+. Moreover, with the launch of Next Generation Firewalls (NGFWs), we brought actionable intelligence and controls together with next generation security features. IT heads entrusted to monitor network security within government organisations and PSUs will immensely benefit from these cutting-edge capabilities of Cyberoam NGFWs. Not only our offerings enable adequate and proactive security but also provide simplified security management, granular user-identity based reporting and support for regulatory compliance needs. All these requirements are of strategic importance in a government setting. Just a few months ago, India announced its first ever elaborate Cyber Security Policy. This will lead to heightened sense of awareness towards cyber security challenges and network level threats among PSUs and other government organisations.

Growing Impact of Innovation Mobility, smart devices and high-speed internet are changing the way government workforce used to function. In past few months, world’s leading governments including the US and UK have faced major security attacks on their network infrastructure, data centres and official websites. Today’s evolved attacks exploit vulnerabilities in internet driven networks, mobile applica-

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

tions, user internet behaviour and similar areas. Cyberoam has a holistic focus on government. Being an indigenous network security vendor with global reach and experience, we are eager to remain trusted partner to address their evolving security concerns. Cyberoam seeks to play a major role in enabling IT and network transformation for government organisations in India. We will share our expertise to make India’s government organisations confident to embrace trends such as BYOD, virtualisation and more. We will spread more awareness with our Layer-8 user-identity based security that ties with all key security policies for internet and network usage, ensuring no unauthorised person or device turns into an insider threat. We have a strong roadmap for government and PSU organisations to facilitate next generation security and reliable expertise at every stage of IT led transformation.

Solutions for Financial Institutions Cyberoam has entrenched its presence in SMBs and SMEs. We are also tapping into emerging tier-3 and tier-4 cities where SMEs are adopting advanced IT infrastructure. At present, our focus is on expanding presence in the enterprise segment and large scale organisations. As a result, BFSI indeed remains a key target. Cyberoam already has several leading names from BFSI as long term customers. User-identity based security, network intelligence and compliance remains critical needs for BFSI customers. To this end, Cyberoam provides one-click compliance reports on HIPAA, PCI DSS, GLBA, SOX and drill-down reports /alerts for security breach and data leakage, thereby helping to meet compliance needs with ease. Moreover, Cyberoam’s Layer 8 Identitybased technology with Next-Gen security features offers actionable intelligence and controls, enabling banks, insurance and other financial services businesses to put security checks from Layer 2 - Layer 7 along with complete visibility into user and network activities. Next-Generation security

features include Application control, IPS, VPN, Web Application Firewall, Web filtering and more on a single platform. Cyberoam provides 1200+ reports that help with log and security management, compliance management and forensic analysis within BFSI organizations. Also as BFSI organizations encourage their customers to access services online and connect to business networks & resources from smart devices, Cyberoam understands the need for protection from the likely risks of application threats and malicious web attacks. To meet these needs, Cyberoam provides granular IPS defence and IPSec SSL VPN for secure remote access to critical online resources.

New Trends With business networks becoming more open to external users, CIOs and IT security heads are losing security control over their networks. Consequently we see increasing demand for virtual security, support for thin-client environments, BYOD controls, capabilities for web content filtering, granular user-identity based controls, application visibility and control, two-factor authentication, Web Application Firewall and support for IPSec and SSL VPN technologies. Interestingly, network security is no longer seen in isolation. We discern that a growing number of customers / organisations appreciate the integrated value of security, productivity and connectivity. Protecting critical enterprise infrastructure in sectors like Oil and Gas, Power, Energy is emerging as an area of alarming concern. Similar businesses and organizations having critical enterprise information infrastructure linked to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) such as SCADA, DCS etc are being targeted with sophisticated cyber attacks. Cyberoam is in the process to launch a network security solution for SCADA networks. Responding to lack of network security solutions that tightly integrate with Property Management System (PMS) and Internet billing & Access Control solutions used by Hospitality sector, Cyberoam plans to launch a network security offering meeting this need and also address evolving security needs of the sector.

Abhilash Sonwane Sr VP Product Development, Cyberoam Technologies Pvt Ltd

in person

Vijay Mahajan Chairman, Basix India

Improving livelihoods through MicroFinance

Is there any scope of integration of IT now and which are the areas where IT can be integrated to promote financial inclusion in the country?

or more than a decade Basix has been working in the area of financial inclusion. Tell us about how you see the mission of Basix in India.

We were established in 1996, and today we are working with more than 3.5 million customers. Over 90 percent of people we are serving are the rural households and about 10 percent consist of urban slum dwellers. Our mission is to promote a large number of ways for sustainable livelihood, women and marginalised population through the provision of financial services and technical assistance in an integrated manner. BASIX strives to yield a competitive rate of return to its investors so as to be able to access mainstream capital and human resources on a continuous basis. We work in every state in the country, except Kerala and Tamil Nadu. We have extended micro-credit to over two million households and insurance to about four million individuals. Currently we have more than 6,000 outlets, which together cater to millions of customers. We are the pioneer in micro credit, micro insurance, mobile based payments and use of CSCs for business correspondent services. We take pride in the fact that we use innovative methods and technologies to promote financial inclusion. Our aim is not to dominate the segment but to keep serving the people.

There is lot of work being done to promote financial inclusion but the objectives are not being met. How do you think that this gap of service and delivery could be reduced in near future? Right now, it seems that our focus is on extending the financial services network. All financial

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

Aadhaar must be integrated in the payment systems. People must be made aware about the benefits of Aadhaar. We also need to dematerialise money and the moment we do that mobile phones will start serving as bank accounts. We must not mix mobile banking with mobile money. Mobile money is the next revolution, but unless mobile money is accepted as a means of payment we will not be able to cut transaction cost. Safeguards must be installed to ensure security and safety in the systems. Once we do that we will able to achieve a lot more in implementing financial services. Mobile penetration has been increased tremendously; it is time to take advantage of this fact. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are the pioneer in micro credit, micro insurance, mobile based payments and use of CSCs for business correspondent services,â&#x20AC;? says Vijay Mahajan. In conversation with Nayana Singh

services require access to financial payment systems. We need to develop a system where pay-in and pay-out can be provided at a reasonable processing cost. If we compare Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s banking system with the insurance sector, then you may find a very strange phenomenon that insurance sector virtually cannot exist without agents, whereas bank prefers that all transactions must be done solely through their branches. This was the reason we recommended to install the system of business correspondent in year 2007 and it took almost four to roll out. Finally there is also a notion that anything in India which has to be done for the poor must be done in a charitable and subsidised way. It was believed that a business correspondent must be restricted to people like a retired school teacher, but ideally it should have been like retail shop or STD booth.

What is your vision when it comes to financial inclusion and what is the roadmap ahead? Access to financial services is needed at the moment. People must be able to access financial services like savings in an easy manner. I am hopeful that ten years from now, mobile phones perform all the financial services without the need of bank accounts on the either side. Financial intermediation has two very important aspects: credit and savings. Mobilisation of savings/ micro savings plays a very important role in the expansion and deepening of the outreach of Financial Institutions, especially the ones engaged in rural areas, underdeveloped and under-banked areas. Savings is required as a tool for effective management of liquidity of individuals, particularly, the poor and the under-privileged, for whom savings also has a great potential for poverty alleviation. The poor would deposit their surplus funds if appropriate financial institutions and savings facilities are available.

In Person

Ajay Singh

Chief Executive Officer Forbes Technosys Ltd

Changing Landscape of Financial System

his Carbon footprint and making him aware for reducing these. We have developed self-service solutions, through which citizens can interact with the government departments.

ou have a strong focus on BFSI sector. How do you look at some of the key flagship programmes of the government such as Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and MNREGA?

Forbes Technosys Ltd has a wide range of solutions for BFSI sector, all of which are designed with latest technology and by ensuring security standards that are in line with the changing landscape of banking and financial systems. To facilitate the cause of Financial Inclusion, MNREGA and DBT, we have developed an entire range of both centralised and doorstep delivery solutions, which can be utilised depending upon the requirements of the government, and the accessibility related factors in the remote areas. Forbes has installed centralised delivery solutions, which aim to provide solar energy to the rural areas and also provide wide range of banking and other services. A large number of other government schemes can also be linked through these solutions, thereby increasing the viability of these solutions. We are also delivering doorstep solutions which are specially designed for use by BCs in remote areas to provide basic banking services. To increase the scalability of Forbes Solution range, all the Forbes platforms have been provided with multifactor authentication systems, which can be readily linked with the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS).

You have been working for the government for quite some time now. How has been your experience? Other than BFSI domain, we are catering to sectors like power and telecom. We have deployed self service bill payment kiosks in almost all the major power utilities and telecom companies.

In order to facilitate financial inclusion of people from remote areas across the country, government has developed the plan to introduce micro-ATM and Business Correspondents. Do you see this space as a business opportunity?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Forbes platforms is highly efficient can be readily linked with the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System,â&#x20AC;? says Ajay Singh. In Conversation with Mohd Ujaley

More than `1000 Crores is being collected annually through our systems. Forbes Technosys has Government (DGS&D) certified information kiosks and various G2C (Government to Citizen) kiosks, which are deployed at various Municipal Corporation and Government departments like Tourism, etc. Our ATVM (Automatic Ticket Vending Machines) and POET (Passenger Operated Enquiry Terminals) machines are active in majority of metro railway stations. Forbes Technosys has developed Enterprise Mobility solutions and Canteen Management applications. We cater to many PSUs, which have large employee base. We have also developed HR leave management solutions and tourism kiosk. These kiosks can act as point of information and action for employees of those organisations and also for the visitors. Forbes has also developed cash and cheque collection solutions for insurance companies, and tax departments. For environmental awareness, Forbes also has developed Carbon Footprint Kiosks, which are placed at various government institutions, thereby offering a unique experience to visitor, for calculating

As a first step towards driving these unbanked masses into the banking stream government is looking for various initiatives like micro-ATM, Business Correspondents, etc. This is indeed a noble initiative and it will help in bringing more transparency in the way financial subsidies are managed. However, the system has its own constraints. In my opinion, the best possible way to check leakages and ensure safety of the payment system is through Electronic Cash Transfer. In this case the beneficiary gets access to his entitlement only after authenticating himself through the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System.

Aadhaar is indeed a revolutionary step forward, however de-duplication of the data seems to be the biggest challenge. What is the best way forward? The data captured through the Aadhaar System should be linked with different government organisations like banks, NIC, Police department, Municipal Corporation, RTO etc., for maximum advantage. The data captured should be fragmented and disseminated to the involved government departments. The government should also promote and deploy self service platforms and solutions, which are based on biometric authentication along with user account details, this will certainly lead to more efficiency and transparency. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

in person

Ranjit Nambiar

Director – Sales (IAM) South Asia, HID Global

Delivering Security Solutions effectively

lease tell us about your product portfolio for the Indian market?

HID Global is a leader in secure identity solutions. We have largely three business segments through which we cater to the market in India. One key area is the physical access control business where we have very significant solutions. We also have identity assurance business. In case of identity assurance, the same identity card, which is used for door access, can also be used for accessing the IT network. The third area is of secure issuance, which is mainly about visual security. So if you look at the three business segments, which are quite diverse, you may end up asking what is HID doing in such discrete segments. But for us there is a very strong common denominator here and that is the Identity. So basically we are into the business of securing the identity.

You are also working with various leading nationalised banks in the country. Tell us about the work which you are doing with the banks in India. The physical access control present in solutions with most of the banks are from HID. Our clients include some of the major banks like SBI, ICICI, AXIS Bank, etc. Other banks are also in process of deploying our solutions. The HID Identity Assurance portfolio makes it easy for financial institutions to deploy the layered security solution that best meets their diverse needs and complies with heightened regulatory requirements. By deploying an integrated multi-layered authentication and real-time threat detection platform our clients can address man-in-the-middle (MITM) and man-in-the-browser (MITB) and other threats. Now it has been mandated by RBI that banking transaction have to be two factor or multi-layer

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

“We have the broadest multi-factor authentication options, including mobile One-Time Password (OTP) Soft Tokens, transparent authentication, and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates,” says Ranjit Nambiar. In Conversation with Ankush Kumar

security. We have solutions for OTP (One time password) generation. OTP can be a hard token, it can be a soft token or it can be a mobile token. We have the broadest multi-factor authentication options, including mobile One-Time Password (OTP) Soft Tokens, transparent authentication, and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates, along with proactive fraud detection and tamperevident audit reporting, for internal audit, compliance managers and fraud prevention departments to satisfy regulatory compliance and customer data protection requirements.

How do you see the e-Governance sector in India? Do you see any business opportunities in this space? In the Indian market, e-Governance is the largest segment today with respect to the secure printing or secure issuance. We have now developed a very strong focus on e-Governance. We are getting into significant partnership and alliances. There are lot of areas where we can contribute. The solutions that we are developing for government departments include physical and logical access control, including strong authentication

and credential management; card printing and personalisation; highly secure government ID; and identification technologies used in animal ID and industry and logistics applications.

What kind of solutions are you offering to PSUs in India? Predominantly, physical access control and secure issuance, we also provide systems for printing of the cards as the employ base is substantial. For instance, ONGC has more than 85000 employees. Other PSUs also have a large work force. Secure issuance has the advantage of in-house printing. In the past people used to get the printing done externally through the printing bureaus, but as security awareness is growing, they don’t want it to be done externally.

What kind of role can HID play in the area of financial inclusion in India? For us, financial inclusion is largely a part of the e-Governance strategy. So we are participating with many partners who are involved in roviding services in the financial inclusion area.

In Person

Providing Information Tool for Financial Services Tell us about the work that Experian is doing in India. Experian is a global leader in providing information, analytical tools and marketing services to organisations and consumers to help manage the risk and reward of commercial and financial decisions. We deliver real value to our customers and solve their business challenges, through our information assets, expertise and our Mohan Jayaraman, Managing range of products and Director, Experian Credit Information services. We manage our Company of India Pvt Ltd own credit bureau, which collects all the financial data from all the banking systems and puts it in one centrally monitored platform. It helps us in creating services and products for all over all banking systems.

What kind of work are you doing for UIDAI? We are trying to incorporate Aadhaar with our banking systems as quickly as possible. The banking industry will hugely benefit with the Aadhaar number. Today the most important challenge with the banks lies in customer identification; hence we are working with UIDAI in a project called Prove ID. Prove ID is an automated identity and address verification service that provides multiple ways of electronically verifying customers by accessing different databases to confirm the identity of the applicants. Prove ID will enable the banking, and other sectors in India, to accept customers faster and more efficiently than they do currently.

Tell us about the importance of credit bureau in ensuring the safety of data. Data is a critical and strategic tool that powers business today. At Experian, we have spent over 30 years refining our expertise in interpreting data, be it a credit bureau or a clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s customer data, and leveraging it to create more valuable and profitable customer relationships for our clients. Our best-in-class analytic solutions transform data into information, enabling organisations to accurately predict applicant and customer behaviour. Experian also builds market-leading credit bureau and custom scores to facilitate superior decision-making and create true value for customers and their stakeholders.

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

Delivering Customised Business Solutions Tell us about the work that AGC is doing in India. Founded more than 25 years ago, we are global technology solution provider. Over the last eight years, AGC has been an unprecedented leader as a Solution Integrator with a differentiated vertical approach providing innovation solutions in four domains in ICT. These include Unified Communication, Data Centre & Virtualisation, Networking Infrastructure, and Enterprise Applications. AGC has been passionately delivering customized business solutions that help organisations accelerate revenue growth, increase market penetration, optimize operating costs and improve employee productivity, by embedding communication in their business processes. AGC uses its solution integration capabilities to integrate best of breed products through its key technol- Rajat Verma ogy alliance partners. Head (BFSI), AGC India

What kind of work are you doing in the BFSI sector? With several decades of experience in delivering solutions for the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) industry, AGC understands and takes care of end-to-end technology requirements beginning from inception to deployment and support of the final solution. AGCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deep domain knowledge, process-driven methodology, sound technology base and experience enable us to rapidly deliver custom solutions aligned to business needs. At AGC, we have a long history of creating applications that directly address various industry pain-points. AGC follows a collaborative solutions development methodology for clients. This systematic, procedural approach ensures that we follow project-management best practices in a regulated environment.

Tell us about the solutions that you are providing to the PSUs? AGC has aggregated a portfolio consisting of People, Process, Technology and Experience, so as to cater explicitly to the needs of the governments. AGC offers a gamut of solutions, cutting across most of the horizontals irrespective of the ministry or department that chooses to deploy them. The solutions are crafted keeping in mind the investments already made by governments and accordingly does not necessarily require forklift upgrade but optimisation and expansion or addition of new capabilities in line with the Solution Frameworks and Outcomes.

special feature

Initiatives in

Financial Inclusion P K Sharma, Deputy General Manager, Financial Inclusion, UCO Bank

n India the ambit of Institutional Financial Sector has been restricted to limited area with presence of Brick & Mortar Branch. This exclusion has not only kept our masses away from mainstream of economic activities, but also deprived them of organised credit environment. Financial inclusion Project is an initiative towards delivery of financial services at an affordable cost to the vast sections of the disadvantaged and low-income groups. Financial services include Savings, Credit, Payments, Insurance, and Remittance facilities. The objective of financial inclusion is to extend the scope of activities of the organized financial system to include within its ambit people with low incomes. Technology has transformed banking from the traditional brick-and-mortar infrastructure like staffed branches to a system supplemented by Alternate Delivery Channel like Automated Teller Machines (ATM), Credit/Debit Cards, Internet Banking, Online money transfers etc. In UCO Bank, we learnt this transformation well in time along with its moot point, i.e., is that access to such technology restricted only to certain segments of the society. Envisaging the future technology we have launched the very innovative state-of-art technology for ensuring all round Financial Inclusion through â&#x20AC;&#x153;UCO Bank On Wheelsâ&#x20AC;&#x153;. In this project a fully technology enabled mobile van roam around the villages on a pre-specified date and time to provide full banking services at the doorstep of the villagers. In fact this widely applause model has bridged the gap between branch and the village. Two models have been set up one of them is equipped with a biometric ATM along with two laptops (one each for the maker and the checker of transactions) that would connect to the centralized CBS database using CDMA technology on real time basis for transaction

Salient Features of the Mobile Van Solution The mobile Van is viewed as the real-time solution for the financial inclusion in the unbanked areas with following unique features: 1. Total Banking solution at the doorstep with the real-time CBS terminals. The customer can be provided with every type of banking transactions including A/C opening, DD purchasing, Statement printing , Cash deposit /withdrawal , Transfer of Funds, Passbook updating etc. 2. With the support of the Biometric ATM, the illiterate customers can make a secured banking transaction. The ATM provided supports : a)

Registration of the Finger prints (Scanning the finger print images in the presence of the Bank officials and storing the same in a centralized server.)

b) Centralised fingerprint authorisation to validate the transaction initiated by the customer. c)

Audio visual support for the illiterate customers ( Flash screens , Different colour band for different withdrawal amount ,multilingual ( including regional language ) audio support in screen flows )

d) Audio visual support and Brielle enabled keypads and buttons provided to support the transactions made by the physically challenged customers. 3. The ATM supports both PIN bases as well as Biometric transactions.

Other Modes of Implementation of Financial Inclusion UCO Bank has played a key role in shaping IBA/IDRBT standards for Smart Card based Financial Inclusion technology model. Adopting to the same technology framework our Bank has implemented unique Smart Card Based FI Solution with 6 different Corporate BC Partners. This model has its unique feature across the industry. Some of salient feature of this solution is: 1. Since commencement of project entire accounts of FI Customers have been opened in CBS. All the demographic as well biometric data is in servers installed at Bankâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DC/DR. 2. Right from the day one we have done real time online transaction only, even from the remotest village by authenticating customers biometric credentials stored in the Smart Card. As a result, there has not been a single case of reconciliation problem so far. 3. The Smart Card Technology implemented by the Bank has its innovative Key Management System as result of which our solution is interoperable among our Corporate BCs. In simple terms a customer enrolled by one BC can work with others Hand Held Terminal. 4. Leaping on the real time online transaction with CBS; we have opened multiple channels like HHD, ATM, and Branch for the FI Customer. It gives a FI Customer, in line with all other customers to use any channel for their Banking needs as per their convenience.

processing. The other model is complete with all CBS functionality, but without an ATM on-board the Mobile Van. The mobile van is helping the bank in reaching out to a banking audience that is out of the banking fold so far and is a major step in the financial inclusion initiative of the bank.

P K Sharma Deputy General Manager, Financial Inclusion, UCO Bank

November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

viewpoint

Mindset – A Significant Barrier to Successful Implementation of e-Governance

hose days are steadily phasing out when a government body used to resolve to carry out its mandate in isolation and act accordingly. Worldwide now a new order of governance organisational structure is getting established, enabling continuous collaboration between the government entities and its stakeholders leading to participatory governance. Implementation and sustenance of electronic governance warrants such continuous collaboration with the stakeholders in the entire life cycle of the governance, be it in conceptualization, execution or in operation. But the progress is slower than desirable and the single important barrier standing on the way is the legacy cultural mindset of the government executives and decisionmakers which is not changing with the time at a desirable speed. Consequently, the change management becomes a crucial and evolving activity in implementation of e-Governance with a well drawn strategy of human resources, operational aspects, risk management, and communication and awareness. However, at the ground level the change is essentially required more in the cultural mindset in the people than in the infrastructure or processes. Ironically, the technology or the machine works as designed, configured and deployed, while the man behind the machine becomes the main issue. For several decades the officers managing finance had the mindset that the best use of taxpayers’ money would be in procuring goods and assets for government. Now with the type of readymade basic and specialized infrastructure (e.g. having broadband connectivity at every working table in a rented office premises) available it is only prudent to go for procuring product related services instead of procuring products. Another example is the concept of

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

procuring goods, products and services merely on the basis of lowest quoted price. Consideration of quality in goods and services has seldom been a virtue in government procurement process. Adoption of quality-cum-costbased selection (QCBS) process for government procurement is the order of the day considering the concept of ‘total cost of ownership’ or ‘life cycle cost’. Further, there is steady proliferation of public-private-partnership (PPP) in execution and operation of government projects. All these bring a whole gamut of issues which warrants a radical change in the mindset of the government finance people. Now prime pre-requisite of successful implementation of e-Governance is that the government officers listen to and accommodate the views and suggestions from all levels of the stakeholders. Mindset issue prevails here in this situation also as participatory discussion has not been intensely practiced in the past by senior executives in government. Interestingly, the cardinal principles of the consultative process, starting with a brainstorming session and then followed by focused group of discussions (FGD), are so much new and different (for example, there are no dumb ideas, build on other people’s ideas, keep the entire team involved, don’t criticize other people’s ideas, the debate, discussion or the forum is not to establish superiority of one over another) from the usual government norm of the official meetings that a mindset change becomes imperative to carry on a fruitful consulting process. Perhaps the most common and impacting issue with the cultural mindset is the resistance to the change that an e-Governance champion may experience almost at all levels in the hierarchy. If the goal of the change is not oriented properly the staff may resist as the purpose of undertaking a specific change is not clear to them. If the stakeholders are not adequately involved then the resistance is expected as the

people are not clear about who are specifically involved in the change. Also, proper support from the seniors in resources, knowhow and motivation are critical for avoiding such resistance. Some officials cannot master the courage and feel that they lack the knowledge, skills and experience to implement the proposed changes and therefore it would be risky to undertake any change. Sometimes staff is not clear about their roles and responsibilities and may not see what they should do differently. Again, at an individual level, the person may be, in general, against or negative towards all that is new or different. In some cases the resistance is due to the reason that the person is not interested in the idea or does not understand the message or the consequences of the proposed change. But the most taut resistance would come from the fear, fear of the unknown, fear of not having competences to unlearn old habits or learn new things, fear of losing network or social traditions, losing power, authority, control and consequently status in the society. The executives, who feel very uncomfortable with the advent of transparency in the processes hurting their pecuniary interests, are expected to put up the most aggressive resistance to the idea of e-Governance. In our mindset we are carrying on a 192 years legacy of ‘trust deficit’ creeping in most of our government processes. In 66 years we did not even think to change the name ‘collector’ which carries the legacy of exploitation. So dear e-Gov champions, please do not lose heart for the slow change of mindset in your peers, keep patience…it takes time in our country!

Ashis Sanyal Consulting Editor, egov

Innovation

Great Age

of Innovation Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, Information Technology & Communications Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh

o you know what differentiates a leader to an also-ran in the dominant countries race? How is that the economic strength of the Nations is so closely intertwined with their ability to innovate and find out of box solutions to the problems they face. If one glances at the list, it doesn’t require an eye of a genius to conclude that Nations that prospered are the one’s who had the handle on the technology. These Nations continued to innovate and advance on the technological value chain and those who didn’t fell by the wayside. It would really amaze our ancestors if they had some tool to look at the vast array of inventions and advances in technology that the human race has made over the last century or so. It’s been a remarkable journey and the Nations that contributed maximum innovations and inventions are the ones that top the current global economic charts and no prize for guessing that the same trends would continue in these sweepstakes in future as well.

The Evolution of Thought If one narrows the focus only around the Information and Communications related technologies and formulate the argument around it, the story looks more convincing. From a humble vacuum tube to amplify an electromagnetic signal in early twentieth century to the present day Silicon Chip with Billion such devices, this journey has been arduous and is the result of relentless and coordinated efforts of many brilliant and inquisitive minds that have brought us to where we are.

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, Information Technology & Communications Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh

This evolution though has been very quick and dramatic and has happened at exponential speeds. Every such invention has drawn from preceding breakthroughs. If invention of solid state transistors was a leapfrog development over a vacuum tube, the semiconductor revolution to mount these transistors along with other such devices on the chips in what we call them as Integrated Circuits now was a much bigger draw. The invention of Optical Fibers, the communication pipe of the world and the myriad developments around it has also been momen-

tous. This in conjunction with the ability to put satellites into the orbit and provide round the clock exchange of data and bytes have transformed the world magically. Every such discovery and innovation has set in a chain reaction with improvements and improvisations at the speed of knots very aptly theorized as Moore’s law. If Hardware was improving on the one hand, development of software to run it was growing equally phenomenally. The electronics revolution has surpassed all other earlier revolutions in size, scale and impact. It’s becoming

Innovation

even more difficult to fathom where this is going to lead us to. The situation now is that the Country that led the Electronics revolution is now the only Super Power in the world. Significant efforts done by the Bell Laboratories in the major part of the twentieth century and Silicon Valley in the later part have catapulted US to its global economic status. All this, though, has not happened by chance, behind this stupendous success was the ecosystem which prided in spawning and cultivating innovation cycles with the lead role played by academic institutions which worked in close collaboration with the Industry and their profit motives. No matter how hard the orthodox socialists denounce capitalism, it was the competitive race driven by the profit motives of the mega corporates that produced astounding results. The University system also attracted the best talent from all over the world and kept pace with the efforts on the other side feeding innovations and inventions, which were then converted by market as commercial business ideas. This has been one of the history’s greatest collaboration between Science, Business and Society. This was also ably supported by the state sponsored research efforts. Such support is always critical to development of newer cap-

ital-intensive technologies, which with massive failure rates, businesses can ill afford. In the nutshell, this has been a model that thrived on individual and collective quest for excellence and has produced remarkable results for the growth of science and most importantly technologies that have immensely improved the quality of lives.

What Can India Do? The question that begs our attention is what as a Nation India should do to learn from this experience. How do we improve our higher educational system to usher in Innovation & Invention culture? As a country resident to one sixth of the humanity, how is that we can’t find our names in global echelons of research be that in the form of a Nobel Prize or a patent or a scientific paper, to say the least. Although IITs are a huge supply source to the global technology factory, why is it that the research culture is so poor in our Institutions? Why is Industry averse to funding quality R&D and not able to proliferate ‘Made in India’ brand when smaller countries like South Korea have been able to create major brands and world beating products. Would we see

a software company come out of the current software service based mental frame to create world-class products and gain global valuations to compete with the likes of Google and Facebook. All this can happen only if completely overhaul our attitudes, approach and focus in higher education and bring back the culture of inquisitiveness and enquiry that prevailed in our University System way back during the times of Nalanda and Taxila. Coming to the corporate funding on R&D, which still is very low in our country, a huge market in India would have to drive this change. The key issue for success is that, instead of asking corporates to ‘fund research and innovation’ for the sake of altruism or philanthropy, we must be able to take action from a profit-generating standpoint. Only then will we manage to maximize social impact transcending the notions of corporate social responsibility, as we understand it today. Let’s face it, the Nations that believe in change, change better and then reap the harvest. What we need is an intuitive understanding in which clashing or compatible personalities combine to foster intensely creative collaborations.

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November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

IN PERSON

Pankaj Kumar Bansal

Special Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department Mission Director, National Rural Health Mission Government of Tamil Nadu

Mission to Create a Healthy Tamil Nadu

lease provide us with an overview of the work that NRHM is doing to bring improvement in the quality of healthcare being offered in Tamil Nadu. The aim of NRHM (National Rural Health Mission) in Tamil Nadu is to provide universal access to equitable, affordable and quality healthcare services. We seek to promote policies that strengthen public health management and service delivery effectively and handle the increased allocations as prescribed under the NRHM Guidelines. Efforts are being made to further strengthen the entire healthcare sector in the state by adding and operationalising new urban and rural PHCs (Primary Healthcare Centres) as per the needs. With NRHM providing support for strengthening secondary and tertiary care centres under certain categories, we expect to have a robust healthcare system with strong HR, infrastructure and equipments to meet any exigencies at all levels. In order to improve the quality of rural healthcare and in accordance with the standards of IPHS, all the PHCs are manned by two Medical Officers so that the quality of care is not different for the vast majority of rural population. New PHCs are established every year and we are also in the process of upgrading one PHC in each block into an Upgraded PHC with 30 beds and better infrastructure. One upgraded PHC in each Health Unit District is being developed into a comprehensive MCH Centre which can handle obstetric emergencies including caesarean section. These centres are adequately provided with manpower and

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

equipments. In the entire country, only in Tamil Nadu almost 70 percent of deliveries take place in government institutions. NRHM has strengthened the infrastructure and provided high-end equipments in the Secondary Healthcare Sector, supplementing the inputs by the World Bank funded Tamil Nadu Health System Project. In the Tertiary Healthcare Sector, focus is provided more on very high quality MCH care and every year Two Medical Colleges are strengthened into RCH - Centre of Excellence with additional buildings, equipments and manpower.

Many young MBBS doctors do not like to work in rural places. What steps have you taken to encourage doctors to work in rural areas? Tamil Nadu is one of the few states in the country where there is minimum vacancy in the healthcare sector even in rural areas. For this achievement, I would like to give credit to our recruitment system through which we have successfully encouraged doctors to work in rural places. We have set up the Medical Recruitment Board, which is an organisation entitled to recruit doctors by conducting examinations. Recently we have recruited more than 1,500 doctors. We have 19 medical colleges in the state and around 50 percent of post graduate seats are reserved for our government doctors. Any doctor who serves in rural area is entitled for two marks for every year of service in rural areas in his PG entrance exam. Moreover, the facilities and infrastructure available in rural PHCs are such that the doctors are able to provide quality medical care to the public. This gives them the satisfaction of putting to effective use what they have learnt through their five years of medical

education. This encourages the doctors to opt for rural services.

The rising cost of medicine is an area of great concern. What steps are being taken by the state government to regulate prices of essential medicines? Tami Nadu is one of the few states in India where medicines have always been provided free of cost at all levels of government healthcare facilities. We have been providing generic medicines to the patients in Tamil Nadu for the past fifteen years. We have also set up Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation Ltd (TNMSC) with the primary objective of ensuring easy availability of all essential drugs and medicines in the government medical institutions throughout the state. The TNMSC follows a very transparent and efficient procedure for the procurement, storage and distribution of medicines. The corporation is engaged in the procurement, storage and supply of 268 drugs and medicines, 84 suture items and 63 surgical items to the various Government Hospitals, Primary Health Centres and through them to the health sub-centres throughout Tamil Nadu. TNMSC is also engaged in procurement, storage and distribution of 114 veterinary drugs to the various veterinary dispensaries under the control of the Directorate of Animal Husbandry. The Government of Tamil Nadu has taken a conscientious decision to provide quality medicines to the stake holder irrespective of the cost. The bulk purchase of medicines and other items through TNMSC brings down the prices considerably. At the same time the suppliers are aware that there should be no compromise in the quality of drugs and other supplies least they would be black listed from all supplies in future. We have ensured that there is no shortage of medicine in any government hospital throughout the state of Tamil Nadu. You will not

IN PERSON

â&#x20AC;&#x153;When it comes to providing healthcare services to the citizens, Tamil Nadu is the first best performing state among the larger states and the second best performing in the entire country,â&#x20AC;? says Pankaj Kumar Bansal

Pankaj Kumar Bansal November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

IN PERSON

find a single medical store near any government hospital as we provide free generic medicines to patients in the hospital itself.

How would you rate the performance of NRHM in Tamil Nadu? What has been the organisation’s most significant achievement in past ten years? Tamil Nadu is ranked among the high-performing states in India, in the area of human development. The state is noted for its low mortality rates and effective healthcare services for which NRHM has been catalytic in the last decade. The state has a long track record of innovations in the health care sector and has pioneered in making new approaches to enhance effective access to quality healthcare at low financial costs. NRHM have been instrumental in delivering the Health Care nearer to the community. The three staff nurse model in the primary health centre has changed the service availability of the PHCs. This has ensured that there is one skilled birth attendant at any point of time to provide quality service or appropriate referral to higher centres without delay. This along with the improved facilities and infrastructure has increased the number of deliveries in the PHCs from few thousands to three lakhs at present. This has also enabled us to make all 1614 PHCs as 24 x 7 centres for maternity care. This model is being emulated by other states also. NRHM has significantly contributed to the fall in IMR in the State. 47 NICUs (Neonatal Intensive Care Units) and 42 NBSUs (New Born Stabilisation Units) have been established and 17 NICUs and 114 NBSUs have been strengthened under NRHM. With support from NRHM the State has added 211 New PHCs and in the current year 118 New PHCs are in the pipeline. It is noteworthy to say 209 PHCs have been upgraded with 30 bedded facilities and we have planned to upgrade 60 more in the current year. 385 Mobile Medical Units are functioning as Hospital on Wheels at one per block. This caters to the people in the remote and hard to reach areas by providing health care at their door steps. Tailor made health care plans are being executed for the tribal population. Birth waiting rooms are provided in tribal areas where the pregnant mother along with one relative can stay well before her expected date of confinement. Their food and other expenses during the stay are being met from NRHM allocation.

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

Other than the Maternal and Child Health care services the remarkable fields into which scrupulous actionable points has been taken till now are Provision of Emergency management services through “108” ambulances with the ‘response Time’ of less than 15 minutes in Urban and 20 minutes in Rural population ; making Inter-sectoral Coordination with the Departments of School Education, Sarva Shiksha Abhyan and SCERT; mainstreaming of AYUSH (Ayurvedha, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) services , Palliative Care services (next to the state of Kerala); hierarchal steps to reduce the prevalence of preventable blindness from 1.4-0.3 percent through involvement of Non Governmental Organisations ; entrusting the public with the

ity. We have trained all our doctors with private agencies and all our PSEs are connected through broadband.

Tell us about the key challenges that you face in managing the healthcare sector in the state of Tamil Nadu. A huge infrastructure is required to provide efficient and effective healthcare to the people. At present we are having the capacity to admit about 70,000 inpatients in all the Government Facilities in the State. Every year we are constructing new buildings and also increasing the man power available in the Government Health Institutions to cater to the increasing needs of the General Public. Today the State has 19 Government Medi-

Our vision is to provide

universal access to equitable, affordable and quality healthcare services increased awareness about Health related issues both Communicable and Non-communicable and many others.

Tell us about the Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme that you have implemented. Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme is implemented by the Government of Tamil Nadu under which a financial assistance of `12,000 is given in three instalments to women from BPL families in order to compensate the wage loss during pregnancy and to get nutritious food so as to avoid low birth weight babies. A mother is eligible for receiving the first instalment of `4,000 after a minimum of three Ante-natal check-ups at the end of seven months; the second instalment of `4,000 after the baby is delivered in a government institution and `4,000 when the baby completes immunisation up to the third dose of DPT. The pregnant mother should be of age 19 years and above, and she should be in the BPL category for availing the benefit. The entire process is being done online and currently we are successfully transferring funds of about `600 Crores to more than three lakh beneficiaries every year. For this purpose we have linked all the primary health centres in the state with broadband connectiv-

cal Colleges and every year we are improving our Medical Education by increasing the number of Medical seats in the colleges and also by opening New Medical Colleges. But our main challenge lies in addressing the gaps in effective coordination among all the health directorates. We are trying to provide comprehensive healthcare services to all the people of the State. There are certain areas of Health Provision which need to be strengthened and we also need to involve the private sector for better outcome in those areas. In fact, we are already partnering with many private organisations for implementing the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme for the people. Also we are involving the Private Sector, wherever necessary, in all high end requirements. We have made a detailed plan and hope to address the health needs of large number of poor people who live in urban areas and in urban slums through the forthcoming Urban Health Mission. I would like to complement e-Gov for creating a platform where good governance is covered from every nook and corner of the country. It has certainly helped in improving the condition of healthcare and governance in the public and private sector and also encourages every stakeholder to come with more initiatives.

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projects people policy events products

Directives

Finance ministry asks PSU banks to ramp up rural ATMs

RBI Sets Up Committee to Award New Bank Licenses The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a three-member committee under former Governor Bimal Jalan to scrutinize applications for new bank licenses, which are expected to be awarded by January 2014. The panel will make its recommendations to the Governor and Deputy Governors, who will make the final proposals to the committee of the RBI central board. “We have set up the committee under Bimal Jalan for bank licenses, Usha Thorat (former RBI Deputy Governor), C B Bhave (former Sebi chairman) and Nachiket Mor (financial sector

expert).We will try our best to do it by January 2014,” RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said at a press conference in Raipur after a board meeting. There are 26 applicants from the public and private sector for bank licences, including Tata Sons, India’s biggest business group, and firms controlled by billionaires Anil Ambani and Kumar Mangalam Birla. Among public sector units, India Post and IFCI have submitted applications. Microfinance institutions such as Bandhan Financial Services and Janalakshmi Financial, too, have expressed their intention to set up banks.

The finance ministry has directed state-run banks to expedite installing automated teller machines (ATMs) in rural areas, which is falling short of the budget target. Against the target to install 34,668 by the end of March 2014, the public sector banks have put up only 5,726 ATMs by end of August. Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced that all the branches of the 26 public sector banks will have an ATM by end of March 2014 and accordingly over 34,000 branches were identified.

recommendations

Government initiatives

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a Consultation Paper on ‘USSD-based Mobile Banking Services for Financial Inclusion’. Significantly large regions and populations are still unbanked/ under-banked in the country. As per the Census 2011, only 54.4 percent of rural households had access to banking services. The fact that a large number of mobile subscribers in rural areas do not have access to banking facilities presents an opportunity for leveraging the mobile telephone to achieve the goal of financial inclusion.

Government of India approved National Identification Authority of India Bill with some amendments that will provide statutory status to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Besides giving statutory status to the UIDAI, the Bill seeks to provide legal backing to Aadhaar, which is used by ministries, departments and states to disburse subsidies. At present, the UIDAI operates through an executive order. The new law seeks to create a National Identification Authority of India, which will oversee implementation of the Aadhaar project. It also seeks to define penalties in case of misuse of data collected under the project. The Amended Bill also addresses the issue of whether the UIDAI can enroll all residents or Indian nationals only.

TRAI Releases Consultation Paper on Mobile Banking For Financial Inclusion

Union Cabinet Clears Bill to Give Statutory Status to UIDAI

Madhya Pradesh to Get More Incentives for Financial Inclusion The Centre intends to provide more incentives to states, including Madhya Pradesh, which is doing good work in the area of financial inclusion. “More benefits will

be given to the states doing good work, in which also Madhya Pradesh will be a pioneer,” a statement issued by Madhya Pradesh Government said, quoting Additional Secretary

in Union finance ministry, Snehlata Shrivastava. The pilot scheme for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) is being carried out in 121 districts. The programme was rolled

out in 43 districts from January 1. The DBT programme has covered over 2.8 million LPG transactions valued at `116 crore since its launch on June 1, 2013 in 20 districts.

November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

In Person

Vini Mahajan

Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Punjab

Riding High on the Power of IT

hat are the key initiatives that you have taken to bring about improvement in healthcare in Punjab?

The Health and Family Welfare Department is committed to provide preventive and curative health services to the people of the State through an efficient network of medical institutions, such as sub-centres, subsidiary health centres, which include dispensaries, clinics, etc; primary health centres; community health centres; sub-divisional and district hospitals, government owned medical and dental colleges. We have initiated large number of schemes covering all aspects of healthcare. This includes schemes for certain specified sections of population like the Mother and Child Tracking System under NRHM. I would also like to tell you about a very special scheme we have launched that is unique in the country. Under this scheme every girl child will get free medical treatment up to the age of five in all government hospitals. The Health Department has announced that it will give an amount of `1,000 to expectant mothers at the time of delivery under Mata Kaushalaya Kalyan Yojana (MKKY). This scheme is meant to promote institutional deliveries in the government hospitals. Our emergency response ambulance service ‘108’ is doing very well. We have implemented essential drugs list through which we provide many kinds of drugs and treatments totally free of cost to patients who come to government hospitals. We provide generic cancer drugs, which are very expensive, at subsidised rates.

There is deficit of doctors in rural areas in most parts of the country. What steps are being taken by your department to bring about improvement in the presence of trained health officials in the rural areas of the state? There were some problems in recruitment process in the past due to which there was lack of good doctors in rural areas. Now we are doing recruitments in a manner that is geared to achieve certain outcomes. We have recruited 300 MBBS medical officers in the recent past. We also conduct regular walk-in interviews for specialists. In addition, we are focusing on maximum optimum utilisation of resources. Punjab already has good infrastructure and ambulance services. We plan to build many more hospitals in all parts of the state. There will be 22 district hospitals, 41 sub division hospitals and 37 block community hospitals. We are also in the

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

“We are committed to providing preventive and curative health services to all the people of Punjab,” says Vini Mahajan

In Person

process of upgrading infrastructure in our hospitals. In order to encourage doctors to work in rural areas, we are providing certain incentives. And we are getting good response from them.

Sometimes people in rural areas are not aware about government schemes and initiatives. What steps are you taking to ensure that everyone is acquainted with the state governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initiatives for making better healthcare facilities accessible to all? You are correct. It takes time for the news of any new initiative from the government to percolate down to the citizens. But if the initiative is good, people will eventually come to know about it through word of mouth. Our schemes like MKKY have led to significant increase in the number of deliveries taking places in government hospitals. Some more efforts are newer and they will gradually show effect once they get stabilised. We are also using DBT for transfer of funds under the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram. In this case also we are getting good response. We are using Information Technology in a big way to reach out to the people and acquaint them of various aspects of healthcare. With the help of IT, we monitor work done under NRHM. We are also using IT to track the status of pregnant women. We have installed a very good Hospital Information Management System. We are monitoring the performance of our doctors and institutions online. We are using IT for both data management analysis and disseminating information.

Many people from rural places are working in urban cities and they find it difficult to avail health services. What steps are you taking to provide healthcare services in the urban cities? No paperwork is required in government hospitals for patients to avail medical treatment. The government has launched National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) to bring improvement in the healthcare services in urban cities. This scheme will cover 41 cities across the state of Punjab. The NUHM will meet health needs of the urban poor, particularly the slum dwellers by making available to them essential primary healthcare services. This will be done by investing in high-calibre health professionals, appropriate technology through PPP, and health insurance

Key Initiatives >> Scheme for free medical treatment to every girl child up to the age of five years in all government hospitals >> Mata Kaushalaya Kalyan Yojana offers grant of `1,000 to expectant mothers at the time of delivery in order to promote institutional deliveries in government hospitals >> Successful emergency response ambulance service â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;108â&#x20AC;&#x2122; >> Scheme for providing essential drugs and treatments totally free of cost to patients in government hospitals >> Provision for selling expensive cancer drugs at subsidised rates

We are using

Information Technology in a big way to reach out to the people and acquaint them of various aspects of healthcare for urban poor. We are identifying urban slums where we will provide preventative and curative healthcare services to the people.

Tell us about the status of medical education in the state of Punjab. Today, Punjab has two state-run medical colleges, both of which are very well regarded. Many leading doctors in the country have graduated from here. Then we have one medical college at Faridkot that is run by Baba Farid University, which is a state university. We also have a number of good private medical colleges in the state. We also have a good network of nursing training in Punjab. We are now working on skill training and we have set up an expertise committee that has identified certain specified courses that can be introduced in university curriculum for further improving the scope of education being imparted.

What is your view about having private sector participation in the healthcare sector? We already have few successful PPP projects going on in Mohali and Bhatinda, where surplus land from our civil hospital has been made available for setting up of super speciality hospitals. We recently concluded PPP arrangement for the provision of diagnostic services for our civil hospitals. We are also working on

some more PPP models like setting up various laboratories.

With rising cost of healthcare it has become important for people to have some kind of health insurance. But not everyone is able to afford healthcare insurance on his own? What kind of work are you doing in this area? The Ministry of Labour and Employment has launched Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to provide health insurance coverage for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. The objective of RSBY is to provide protection to BPL households from financial liabilities arising out of health shocks that involve hospitalisation. Beneficiaries under RSBY are entitled to hospitalisation coverage up to `30,000 for most of the diseases that require hospitalisation. The Ministry has noted that Punjab is one of the star performers under RSBY. The state has also launched its own health insurance scheme for other poor families who have not been categories under BPL. Additionally, the state government, through the Department of Cooperative, is running Bhai Ghanhya Sehat Sewa Scheme. The scheme aims to provide the cashless health care facilities and treatment to the members of the Cooperative societies and their family members across the state. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

In Person

Vivek Atray

Additional Secretary, Electronics & IT Department Government of Haryana, Managing Director, Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation (HARTRON)

Improving

Lives Through

Information Technology

hat is the mandate of HARTRON? Tell us about the organisation’s

key achievements.

Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation or HARTRON started working independently with effect from 1st Jan, 1983, after the organisation was bifurcated from Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HSIIDC). The Corporation has been a pioneer in Information Technology and has a number of prestigious projects to its credit. HARTRON is the first organisation that undertook the Voter Identity Cards Projects in India. The identity cards project was the largest database application in India, wherein the details of voters were to be maintained along with their photographs. The project was executed with the highest accuracy of 98 percent in India, which is a record. HARTRON draws its efficacy from the fact that we understand the important role that information technology can play in transforming governance and improving the quality of people’s lives. The organisation is powered by a team of highly qualified professionals who have experience in the core technologies like GUI based Development, Image Processing, Data Ware Housing and Web enabled development.

What are the key projects that HARTRON is handling now? As you know, the State Data Centre (SDC) has been identified as one of core infrastructure proj-

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

“HARTRON draws its efficacy from the fact that we understand the important role that information technology can play in transforming governance and improving the quality of people’s lives,” says Vivek Atray

In Person

ects under NeGP of Government of India. The Haryana state data centre has been implemented by HARTRON and has been built on an area of 4196 sq ft with a server area of 941.56 sq ft. This data centre is co-located with State Network Management Centre which has been already established under Haryana State Wide Area Network. This is a state of the art data centre, and is fully equipped to provide the necessary services to the various government departments. Another key project implemented by HARTRON is the Haryana State Wide Area Network. In fact, Haryana is among the first States to have implemented State Wide Area Network (SWAN) and by now about 800 offices of various departments have been connected horizontally on this network and are using this network for running their applications and other day to day work. HARTRON has also played the most important role in the execution of the State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG), and in e-District and e-Panchayat schemes. The state was the first to roll out CSCs in April 2008.

HARTRON has taken initiatives to provide IT education to students in the state. Please tell us about these initiatives. HARTRON has been providing education by setting up of Franchise Centres in the state. Presently 88 Franchise centres are running successfully under the name of HARTRON Approved Workstation throughout the state. Aim is to keep pace with prevalent market needs, and the courses have been designed to prepare and mould the work force in region to meet the specific demands of the industry. The response that we are seeing from the students for the courses that HARTRON is providing is quite good. Up to March 2012, approximately 40,000 students had been enrolled. More than 7000 students have already been enrolled for the current session.

Agreement Between HARTRON and BSNL On 3 June 2013, a MoU was signed between HARTRON and BSNL to bring about collaborative and co-operative relationship between two government organisations in the field of managed hosting services. BSNL will provide managed hosting services in the area of colocation, hosting and cloud services. These services will be managed and monitored 24X7 through best in class command centre established in Bangalore. This collaboration will enable HARTRON e-Governance Information Technology team to expand the citizen services in the state without investing further in Data Centre Infrastructure and manpower

basis. The duration of such contract is minimum one year. For getting the right kind of manpower of various prestigious projects of the State Government, HARTRON is in always in a hunt for the quality professionals .The professionals are recruited through open advertisements. More than 5000 computer professionals have been placed with various State Govern-

The capacity building programme that HARTRON is implementing has been developed by National Institute for Smart Governance (NISG), Hyderabad. In the state we are awarding highest priority to Human Resource Development. Special emphasis has been laid for HRD up-gradation with a twin objective of providing necessary manpower to the IT sector for its growth and to improve the employability of the residents in IT sector. On a regular basis HARTRON conducts specialised appreciation course in computers for officials in various government departments of Haryana.

In your opinion what are the major achievements of HARTRON? Also, tell us about some of the initiatives that HARTRON has taken that are good enough to be replicated in other states of the country. HARTRON has made many important contributions in the development of e-Governance in the country. We have also played a role in development of IT industry in general and in capacity building. The Corporation has

â&#x20AC;&#x153;HARTRON is the

first organisation

that undertook the

Voter Identity Cards Project in Indiaâ&#x20AC;? ment Organizations by HARTRON including professional including professional in niche areas like Web-enabled applications, Software development using Visual basic, Oracle, SQL Server, D2K, Java, Perl, CGI etc.

What about providing job related facilities to the students who pass out of HARTRON Franchise Centres? Are some initiatives being taken in that direction?

At times, e-Governance initiatives are not able to deliver maximum benefits to the people as there is lack of adequate capacity building in the concerned IT departments.

We are keen to provide job related opportunities to all IT professionals of the state. In fact, HARTRON is acting as a Placement Organisation for IT professionals. These professionals are being recruited by HARTRON and are provided to the user organisation on job work

HARTRON is doing lot of work in the area of capacity building. We keep conducting specialised training programmes for e-Governance at regular intervals. The training that we impart is focussed on capacity building under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).

executed the Police WAN Project connecting all the Police Stations, District HQ and State HQ. The PASHUDHAN Project, developed by HARTRON, has been accepted as a national model, fit for replication in the country. Then there is the Project YATRI for Computerisation of Roadways Depots. This project has been a role model for State Transport Undertakings in the country. I have already told you that HARTRON has been a pioneer in Information Technology and has a number of prestigious projects to its credit. HARTRON was the first organisation that undertook the voter Identity Cards Projects in India. The identity cards project was the largest database application in India, wherein the details of voters were to be maintained along with their photographs. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

IN PERSON

Prerna Puri

Secretary, Information Technology & Additional Secretary, Home, Chandigarh Administration

Chandigarh

a Rare Embodiment of e-Governance

lease give us an overview of the e-Governance initiatives that are being undertaken in Chandigarh.

“The vision of the Administration is to create a knowledge based society, in which every citizen of Chandigarh is able to use easy self-service electronic models to access government services,” says Prerna Puri

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

When it comes to the use of technology, Chandigarh Administration has always adopted a forward looking approach. The Administration accords high priority to e-Governance initiatives. The vision of the Administration is to create a knowledge based society, in which every citizen of Chandigarh is able to use easy self-service electronic models to access government services. The IT infrastructure in Chandigarh is already well established. Chandigarh Administration is providing a ‘multi-service’-‘single-window’ experience to its citizens through the network of 27 Sampark Centres (akin to CSCs in other states). Through this service citizens can have hassle free one stop solution to many of the problems that they are facing. Monthly, over two lakh transactions are logged in at these Sampark Centres. Significant numbers of these transactions are e-Transactions. Furthermore, Chandigarh Administration is working towards adding more services like rail ticket reservation, payment of property tax etc to the existing bouquet of 22 G2C and 4 B2C services at these Sampark Centres.

Lot of work has also been done in Chandigarh in the area of CCTNS. Please provide your views on this. Currently we are implementing six Mission Mode Projects under National eGovernance Plan and some more are in the pipeline. As

IN PERSON

regards CCTNS, Chandigarh is the first city in the country to have all police stations under its CCTNS network. Computerisation and digitisation of archaic records and documents is underway in various Departments of Chandigarh Administration. Document Management Systems are being put in place and this would follow the computerisation of workflows. Around one hundred public services are being computerised.

You have also started the scheme for providing free Wi-Fi hotspots in the city. What kind of benefits do you see in this scheme? Internet can be seen as the most popular medium for accessing information and services and the Administration in Chandigarh is trying to encourage usage of Internet by enabling citizens to have easy access. Accordingly free Wi-Fi hotspot, probably first of its kind in North India, was set up last year as a pilot project in CSCs of Chandigarh. This free Wi-Fi hotspot enables the residents visiting the CSC to stay connected to the Internet through their smartphones, tablets and laptops. This free Wi-Fi access at Sampark Centre is a secured system and is available during Sampark Centre’s working hours. While using the free Wi-Fi service, the users have to register their mobile number as the proof of identity. More such free Wi-Fi zones are being set up across the city.

Many times citizens are unable to access the e-Governance services as they are unaware of what is being offered. Are you taking some proactive measures to ensure that enough awareness is created about the initiatives that have been taken? We are concerned about the rate and extent of adoption of eGovernance. As per the Technology Acceptance Model, the acceptability of an IT solution is determined by two factors - perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the IT solution, hence we try to ensure that eGov applications are intuitive and user-friendly. Accordingly, it becomes crucial to ensure that before e-Governance initiatives are fully implemented / rolled out, all sections of the society are familiar with the use of cutting edge IT applications as the medium to access G2C, G2B, G2E services. Initiatives of IT Department like setting up of free Wi-Fi hotspots, touch sensitive information kiosks, launch of mobile applications, etc., have been deployed for

The Vision

of e-Jan Sampark project •

•

Bring the administration closer to all the sections of the society especially under privileged. Provide a single, efficient information dissemination system to the citizen for availing government

•

services by minimizing multiple interaction points for the citizen and hence reduce the wastage of valuable time Provide for better turnaround time in receipt, processing and issue of services

•

Provide information services in a comfortable environment and make availing of the information services a pleasant experience. Giving substance to Right to Information Act

Our free Wi-Fi

hotspot is probably

first of its kind in North India

public, to narrow down the ‘chasm’ that normally exists between ‘early adopters’ and ‘early majority’. We have followed a two-pronged strategy, i.e., to test cutting-edge technologies for delivery of public services and to encourage public to use these IT solutions for accessing public services. And in order to increase awareness of cuttingedge IT applications, we have adopted an inclusive approach wherein we are focussing on the school and college students as well. Chandigarh Administration is one of the first State/UT governments in the country to have organised a mobile application development competition and we are customising some of the entries submitted by the students. Every year we organise IT competitions in schools as well. We are hopeful that these efforts would help us in speedier adoption and diffusion of IT amongst public.

IT Policy in Chandigarh is being revised. What kind of objectives do you expect to achieve through the revised IT Policy? We are planning to revise the current IT policy in order to meet the new demands of the industry. The consultation with the industry stakeholders is underway. The policy will take into account the contemporary changes in the IT sector. IT is already playing a significant role in Chandigarh; the revised policy will have a provision for

encouraging women to start the IT-enterprises in the city. The new policy will also take into account all the major developments that are shaping future, including the changes that have taken place on the e-Governance front. In order to step-up the extent and rate of adoption of IT, we are working on provisions to encourage the non-IT sector to use IT. Similarly we are working with other Departments of Chandigarh Administration to come up with ways and means to encourage uptake of IT. In this region, IT is providing direct jobs to more than 30,000 people, and indirect jobs to four times that number.

What kind of responses are you getting from these e-Governance initiatives? Are people using the e-Sampark Centres in Chandigarh for accessing government services? The response is very good. The touch sensitive kiosks, which we have installed in various departments for information dissemination are also being used extensively. Many people are using the free Wi-Fi that we have installed in CSC. The e-Sampark Centres are not only ‘onestop-solution’ for availing 22 G2C and 4 B2C services but they are also used for dissemination of information. Earlier, the citizens had to make multiple visits for having a single transaction. November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

IN PERSON

We have been using these Centres for UID enrolment as well. We are working towards introducing new services like filling of passport application, booking of tickets at these Centres.

What steps are you taking to promote IT industry in the city? We have operationalised Entrepreneur Development Centre (EDC) in the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park (RGCTP). EDC provides state of the art built up space for Small and Medium Enterprises that are into software development, IT based R&D and other high value services etc. EDC also provides incubation facilities for young IT entrepreneurs by providing them with plug-n-play facilities at nominal rates. Besides this, an IT Incubation Centre has also been set up at Chandigarh Administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Society for Promotion of IT in Chandigarh [SPIC].

Implementation of e-Governance initiatives requires active coordination among stakeholders in various departments. What steps are you taking to ensurethat there is effective coordination between various departments and agencies? The Department of IT is the nodal department for various important IT initiatives like UIDAI, NOFN, etc., and so we are making all the efforts to sensitise various departments about the need for having effective IT systems in place. To ensure that there is effective coordination in the area of IT amongst various departments we organise orientation programs for officers at various levels, wherein they are not only sensitised about eGovernance but are also trained on IT project management techniques. We have also trained around two hundred personnel of Chandigarh Administration on e-Governance. State Apex Committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary meets regularly to review the progress of Mission Mode Projects.

Digitisation of files is key area for having effective e-Governance. Tell us about the work that you are doing in this area. We are trying to complete the digitisation process of office records in the UT Secretariat as well. The filing system at the UT secretariat is very good and this makes it very easy for us to complete the digitisation process. We are also working towards the implementation of e-Office in Chandigarh Administration.

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

T K Ramachandran

Secretary, Information Technology Department Government of Tamil Nadu

IT Initiatives in tamil nadu

ow do you see the e-Governance initiatives that have been launched in the country?

The Government in Tamil Nadu has taken and is poised to take a number of new initiatives in e-Governance specially in the areas of Analytics, Mobile computing and Cloud technology. On the whole people are benefitting from such projects. However, in order to derive maximum benefit from e-Governance it is necessary that there should be sufficient awareness among the people. e-Governance can prove truly transformative in the governance space, when there is better awareness and understanding of the role of such systems in the achievement of sustainable development goals. Such awareness and understanding is particularly necessary among policy and decision makers. Those who are playing a key role in governance should have a view on the potential and risks involved in the use of ICTs within specific development settings. They must have the knowledge of the enabling environment required for the implementation of ICT solutions in areas like regulations, standards, finance, institutions human resources etc. In my opinion the ICTs are a key and inseparable part of the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;present we have.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; There is no denying the ubiquitous role of ICTs in our society, from the way in which we communicate, network and interact, to the way in which we learn, play, and conduct business or access government services. There also has to be awareness amongst the people, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of all e-Governance initiatives.

When you are putting so much of government data online, then you also have to be concerned about the issue of cyber security. What kind of cyber security measures are you implementing to ensure that government data that is being put online is safeguarded from malicious attacks? Cyber security related concerns are there all over the world, but many advanced countries have already moved their work in the online space. Even in our own country, a large number of states have started using IT systems in a big way. The standards for secure transactions and security have been set by the Government of India. Online transactions are now fairly common in government departments, banks, private companies and the end users. Of course, we need to have adequate cyber security systems in place, while we continue to bring more and more of our work in the online domain. The systems that are being developed in Tamil Nadu have the same or higher level of security that the government departments in other states presently have. The State Data Centre and other hardware facilities are completely secure and were among the first to receive ISO certification.

In your opinion what are the main achievements of Tamil Nadu in the area of e-Governance? I would like to say that the Government of Tamil Nadu is now giving lot of emphasis to using solutions from Information and Communication Technology to improve the systems of governance. The state is a front-runner when it comes to implementation of various e-Governance programmes both of the State Government and also the schemes under the

IN PERSON IN PERSON

â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is no denying the ubiquitous role of ICTs in our society, from the way in which we communicate, network and interact, to the way in which we learn, play, and conduct business or access government services,â&#x20AC;? says T K Ramachandran

T K Ramachandran November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

59 59

IN PERSON

National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). As you are already aware, Tamil Nadu has a very well managed state portal through which citizens can access many services and the much needed information. We are extensively promoting the use of IT in managing the government’s internal processes. The State Data Centre in Tamil Nadu is working well and State Wide Area Network has also been rolled out. Under the visionary leadership of our Chief Minister, several State Government Departments have already taken various innovative steps to promote e-Governance and have drawn up a roadmap for IT implementation and delivery of services to the citizens online. Every department in the State is making renewed thrust for taking their work online. The idea is to enable the people in the State to access more and more government services through the online route with minimum hassle.

Please tell us about the work being done by Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA). How would you rate the work being done by TNeGA for promoting e-Governance in the state? With the idea of developing e-Governance at a faster pace in Tamil Nadu, the State Government has established the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA). The primary

Mission of

Information Technology Department in Tamil Nadu •

•

Provide Government services, both informational and transactional, to Citizens at their door steps through the internet at the earliest Bridge the digital ruralurban divide

•

Make Tamil Nadu the Best in IT enabled Governance Substantially increase the software exports of Tamil Nadu Provide Cable TV services to all households in Tamil

Nadu has in fact progressively aligned its entire e-Governance plan in consonance with NeGP, ever since its formulation in May 2006 by the Government of India.

e-Tendering is known to bring a lot of transparency in the functioning of the government. What kind of work are you doing in this area? Anyone can go to the website of The Tamil Nadu Government Tenders Information System (http://www.tenders.tn.gov.in/) and find out the information on the tenders that have been floated by different departments in the state. Most departments in the state are now

e-Governance in

Tamil Nadu is Truly

Transformative in governance objective of TNeGA is to design, deliver and administer e-Governance projects by providing the necessary administrative, financial, legal and technical framework in the State. Over the years, TNeGA has been playing a seminal role in facilitating the development of e- service centres throughout the State through suitable public-private partnerships. The organisation is dedicated to ensuring that the public in the State does not have to come to government offices necessarily for accessing different services. They can interact with the departments literally at their doorsteps. Tamil

60 egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

using the e-Tendering system. This is resulting in lot of transparency and is also bringing substantial reduction in the operating costs of these departments.

The Common Service Centres have been envisioned as the front end delivery points for Government and Private Services to the rural citizens. How are the CSCs doing in Tamil Nadu? The Common Service Centres are playing a most seminal role in the realization of the vision of

• •

Nadu at reasonable rates, at the earliest Take Computing in Tamil to a higher level Enhance the quality of life of Citizens through Information and Communication Technology

NeGP to provide all government services in an integrated manner at the doorstep of the citizen at an affordable cost. The Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India, has formulated the plan to roll out more than one lakh CSCs across the country through Public Private Partnership. In Tamil Nadu, 5440 CSCs are being developed. These centres are in various stages of development. Two Service Centre Agencies (SCA) have been selected by the State through a transparent bidding process to rollout the CSCs in their allotted divisions. More than 2500 CSCs are already operational across the state and are providing several online services to the citizens.

Today we are seeing a very significant rise in the expectations that people have from the government. How do government servants cope up with these rising expectations and demands? You are right in saying that there is huge rise in expectations from the people. In my opinion, today there is no alternative to e-Governance precisely because we are having a quantum rise in the expectations that people have from all branches of the government. A large percentage of our population is the youth. This younger generation expects a better way of life and The State government, is trying its best to live up to the rising expectations. What people are demanding is basically good governance, and that can only come when we have effective e-Governance systems in place. e-Governance is a therefore a necessity in today’s world!

NIIT Technologies

special feature

Comprehensive Financial

Management System (CFMS) The CFMS is an integrated, robust, scalable, secure and user-friendly system designed on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)

IIT Tech hosted a special session on ‘Comprehensive Financial management System’ (CFMS) at eINDIA Summit held in Hyderabad on 23-24 July 2013. The panel discussion, chaired Dr P V Ramesh, Principal Secretary Finance, R&E, Government of Andhra Pradesh, had the participation of the following key speakers, Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, DIT, Government of Maharashtra; Bipul Pathak, Commissioner/Secretary, Science & Technology and Information Technology Department, Government of Jammu & Kashmi;, Arvind Mehrotra, President, Asia Pacific, NIIT Technologies; R Shekhar,

Project Objective With the implementation of new CFMS solution in Finance Department, the Government of Andhra Pradesh expects overall improvement in all processes of the Financial Department. There will be lot of improvement in transparency and efficiency

Director Pre Sales, SAP; S Prabhu, SAP Practice Head for NIIT Technologies. In the session panelists spoke about the challenges faced by financial department of different states and the benefits and outcomes of ‘Comprehensive Financial Management System’ (CFMS)

CFMS initiative of Andhra Pradesh Through this project, Financial Department of Government of Andhra Pradesh wants to move from the existing legacy systems to the proposed integrated system that will be robust, scalable, secure and user friendly. The system is

Project Outcomes Many beneficial desired outcomes are expected to be achieved through implementation of Comprehensive Financial Management System. A brief description of the desired outcomes is given in the adjacent graph

designed on SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) based services. The new system has been christened as Comprehensive Financial Management System (CFMS). With this initiative, NIIT Technologies is working as an IT partner with Andhra Pradesh government to transform from its current public finance systems to a Futuristic World Class Enterprise Solution. As a part of the project a Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) based solution has been introduced to provide seamless interface and an efficient electronic information sharing mechanism which will enable all the internal departments to work cohesively with the Finance Department.

November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

special feature

uttar pradesh

e-Governance in Uttar Pradesh Arun Agarwal, Elets News Network (ENN)

As far part of the NeGP, the Uttar Pradesh government has put in place the necessary infrastructure that can facilitate a digital interaction between the various departments and people. The SWAN is operational; the State Data Centres is operational; the State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) is operational; the State Portal is also operational. All other hardware, software and basically infrastructure facility that is required for e-Governance is in place. Today the state has almost 9000 CSCs (Common Services Centres) that are active. The state also has a structure for providing digital services in urban areas known by the name of Lokvani Kendras.

Kisan Application Key Features • Empowering the farmerfrom beneficiary to consumer • Networking of all Co-operative Societies , fertilizer dealers, Departments and farmers , for bringing under a single roof for introducing supply chain model and delivering farm related services to the needy farmers • Generates a master database/agriculture directory of the district • Mandates that applications for agriculture loan (KCC) are processed by the district coordinator of the concerned bank and the service branch manager in a time bound responsible manner and in strict adherence to RBI norms • KISAN generates a service-specific receipt for all services (implements subsidy, fertilizer, seeds, KCC etc). Physical allotment of the services is done FIFO. Farmer can check the status of his booking

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

anytime online. • Popular measure that helps the farmer to choose fertilizers according to the need of the land • It can provide information on whether/training programs etc to farmers through Voice SMS/SMS.

• Banks and insurance companies can use this database, enabling more rapid loan payments (KCC) to farmers and developing more personalized insurance packages respectively in transparent way.

An Initiative by Gonda District In the rabi season 2012-13, a total of 7645 farmers availed the service for fertilizer. In Kharif season 2013 (season not complete), a total of 30142 farmers have so far availed of the service for fertilizer. In total, 80,143 farmers have registered for various services provided under KISAN.

uttar pradesh

Easy Gas Application Key Features • Vanishing queues –over the counter for booking/delivery • Transparent procedure and adequate supply ensures minimal crowds and reduces possibility of black marketeering and diversion to commercial use • Enables the district administration/citizen to get accurate information about the stock positions, supply and deficits of this essential commodity. Software behaves as an accounting tool for the district administration, allowing for necessary intervention whenever required. • 100 percent home-delivery for urban consumers within the stipulated time of 7 days and for rural consumers from the pre-identified distribution points • Curb on third party procurement and hoarding. System alert on multiple bookings prevents diversion of domestic gas by commercial consumers. • Facility to check booking status/ delivery schedule easily from anywhere • SMS alert for Booking/Delivery

• It has generated employment for more than 260 technical persons and incen-

special feature

tivized CSC into a commercially viable enterprise.

An Initiative by Gonda District In District Gonda, EASYGAS was rolled out in March 2012. Despite an intervening change in district authorities and few adverse interests, EASYGAS services continued to be offered by Lokvani operators. Till date more than 2 lakh bookings have been handled by the software. This demonstrates an ample measure of sustainability.

“We are now trying to attract major IT investments in the State. IT Industry can be a big job generator. So if all the software makers, the hardware makers, the BPOs, were to set up their establishments in Uttar Pradesh, it will lead to a big improvement in the employment situation. We are very keen on making that happen. We have already announced a package of incentives for the IT industry. We are also developing an IT City in Lucknow. We are also now developing IT parks in different parts of the State. Many prominent IT players are showing interest in setting up their development centres in Uttar Pradesh” Jiwesh Nandan Principal Secretary, Information Technology & Electronics, Mining & Additional Sources of Energy, Government of Uttar Pradesh

“One of the most popular initiatives that we have taken is that of distribution of free laptops to the students. By distributing free laptops to students, we are ensuring that the next generation gets good experience of computers and computing, and they are in a position to take IT even forward in the state”

November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

IN PERSON

Rajiv Gauba

Additional Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communications & IT, Government of India

Electronics

Manufacturing Rajiv Gauba is a 1982-batch IAS officer of Jharkhand Cadre. He has more than 25 years of experience in Central and the State Governments, at the District level and in multilateral financial institutions. He has worked in the Ministry of Environment & Forests as Director inCharge of Policy & Law. He has also worked in the International Monetary Fund for four years. Before becoming the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Communications & IT, Rajiv Gauba served as the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Environment & Forests. Here he was looking after the work of Hazardous Substances Management Division and the National River Conservation Directorate

in India

ndia is doing quite well when it comes to software, but in the hardware sector the picture is not that good. Why is it that the country is not doing well in the area of electronics hardware? What steps can be taken to promote hardware sector in the country? IT industry has been one of the main pillars of India’s growth story. The contribution of this sector to the national GDP and exports has increased significantly. However, the hardware sector has not been able to keep pace accordingly. So for much of our domestic hardware needs, we are dependent on imports. But we are hopeful that the New Electronic Policy approved in 2012 will definitely help in promoting indigenous manufacturing of electronic products. The policy has been framed with the objective of creating an eco-system for globally competitive Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in the country. We aim to achieve a turnover of about USD 400 billion by 2020. This will involve investment of about USD 100 billion and it can generate employment for around 28 million people at various levels. It aims to build a strong supply chain of raw materials, parts and electronic components to raise the indigenous availability of these inputs from the present 20-25 per cent to over 60 per cent by 2020.

Please provide us with an overview of the schemes that have been created to promote ESDM sector in the country. Various Schemes have been put in place and a fast track mechanism has been established to give impetus to the electronics manufacturing sector. Modified Special

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) is one of the important policy initiatives under the National Policy on Electronics 2012 to attract domestic and global investments into the Electronic Systems Design and Manufacturing sector within Electronic Manufacturing Clusters. M-SIPS is basically an investment based scheme under which substantial financial incentives are being provided. It provides for subsidizing of upto 25 percent of capital expenditure if the ESDM unit is in non-SEZ zone and 20 percent of capital expenditure if the ESDM unit is within SEZ. We have set up an Appraisal Committee to ensure that decisions are taken in a proactive and time bound manner. Several projects have already been approved. We have also launched schemes to build infrastructure in Brownfield and Greenfield clusters. The response is very positive and a high level of confidence has been generated in the investors.

China seems to be doing very well in the hardware manufacturing sector? What are the reasons due to which India is not performing that well in this sector? I won’t regard it as India lagging behind. It is just that India is doing well in certain other areas, like software, for instance. Every country has its competitive advantages and disadvantages, and these can be dependent on a number of factors. China has done very well in the manufacturing sector generally. Likewise we have done exceedingly well in IT software sector. We are taking measures so that we don’t lose our pre-eminent position. At the same time, we need to focus on the hardware sector and I am hopeful that in the near future we will be able to improve and enhance indigenous production of hardware products.

IN PERSON

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are hopeful that the New Electronic Policy announced in the year 2012 will help in promoting indigenous manufacturing of electronic products,â&#x20AC;? says Rajiv Gauba

Rajiv Gauba November 2013 / egov.eletsonline.com / egov

IN PERSON

Tell us about the Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) scheme that has been started by the government. What kind of response is this scheme having? The Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC) Scheme to support creation of world-class infrastructure for attracting investments in the Electronics Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) Sector was notified in October 2012 and the guidelines for operationlization of EMC Scheme were issued in April 2013. EMC scheme aims to encourage manufacturing of specific high priority electronic product lines in India by providing capital grant for creation of electronic manufacturing clusters. The scheme is open for receiving applications for a period of five years from the date of notification. The assistance for the projects in Greenfield Electronics Manufacturing Clusters is up to 50 percent of the project cost subject to a ceiling of `50 crores for every 100 acres of land. For larger areas, pro-rata ceiling applies. Till now DeitY has received 11 applications for setting up of Green field Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMCs) involving an overall area of around 2800 acres with a proposed investment of over `3700 crores.

Today most of the Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication units are located in China. Do you think India can develop its own Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication network in the near future, given the fact that such units require lot of investment and knowledge of latest technology? Recently Government has approved setting up of two Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication (FAB) Manufacturing Facilities in the country. These FAB facilities are expected to provide a big boost to the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing eco-system in the country. The two facilities at Greater Noida and Prantij, near Gandhinagar in Gujarat have projected investment of around Rs. 25,000 crores each. The Government has also approved a package of incentives for the two consortia which will put up these facilities. The Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication Units will stimulate the flow of capital and technology, create employment opportunities, help higher value addition in the electronic products manufactured in the country, reduce dependence on imports and lead to innovation. There will be direct employment

egov / egov.eletsonline.com / November 2013

of about 22,000 and indirect employment of about one lakh persons.

Tell us about the initiatives that have been taken by DeitY to enhance mobile governance in the country. DeitY has sensitised the Central Ministries, State Government and other agencies to the fact that the reach of e-Governance will remain limited unless one uses the ubiquitous availability of mobile phones. We need to use mobile platform to provide government services to the citizens in a seamless and convenient manner. It can play a vital role as mobile penetration is very high in our

Store. It is a national level common repository of customizable and configurable applications that can be re-used by various government agencies at Centre and States without investing effort in development of such applications. The whole idea of app store is that different agencies in government do not duplicate their efforts. It will help in optimizing government resources and public money. The objective is to bring applications which are tested and proven on a single platform so that these can be used across the country. This eGov App store will now be augmented to include applications and components developed by various departments and agencies at Centre and States and also by

We need to promote

the use of mobile platform

to expand the reach of

government services to the citizens in a seamless and convenient manner country as compared to traditional computing devices like tablets and laptops. We have set up the Mobile Services Delivery Gateway through C-DAC. We act as an enabler for various Central Ministries and Departments in Centre and State Governments that are planning to provide citizen services through mobiles. We are also providing assistance to various Mission Mode Projects. The development of m-Governance in the country requires a number of complementary steps - first of all we need to create awareness among the stakeholders, then we need to provide them the required gateway and finally we have to give them assistance in making their application mobile compliant. Rather than creating a parallel system, the objective is to create a holistic system which is citizen centric so that all services can be accessed through a common number.

Government has also launched various mobile apps to deliver e-Governance services to the citizens. What kind of responses are you getting from such initiatives? Recently the Government of India has launched the initiative of establishing the eGov App

private players; and a complete eco-system will be established (including mechanism for funding, charge back, contract management, SLAs) and will become a part of the GI Cloud initiative under Government of India.

What steps are taken by DeitY to ensure that all the available infrastructure and resources are being effectively utilised by various Government Department? State Data Centres and State Wide Area Networks (SWAN) are important elements of the core infrastructure, created under NeGP. However, several e-Governance initiatives had commenced even before. Consequently, separate infrastructures have also been created. Moving towards an integrated national core infrastructure is important to enhance effective service delivery particularly in the context of the ambition to exponentially expand Electronic Service delivery at State, Municipal and Panchayat level. We are commencing implementation of the recommendations of the Task Force on Cloud Computing. DeitY is also working to examine various aspects of the next generation National Information Infrastructure (NII 2.0).

2014 17-18 January 2014 Chandigarh

T o wa r d s A D i g i ta l E c o n o m y

Programme Chair

partner publications

Yudhvir Malik Financial Commissioner & Principal Secretary, Electronics & Information Technology, Government of Haryana

eharyana.eletsonline.com