New Delhi: California-based chipmaker Intel is working in India on certain solutions centred around tablets that would offer a new set of functionality and ease of basic banking at doorstep, which in turn could facilitate the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) that aims at financial inclusion.
“We have Intel Architecture-based solutions centred around tablets that offer a new set of functionality and ease of basic banking at doorstep. By empowering the business correspondents with tablets it helps to increase productivity and ease of use for them,” Srinivas Tadigadapa, director, enterprise solution sales, Intel South Asia, told IANS in an interview.
Currently in urban areas tab banking has caught on. “Taking tab banking to the rural areas allows for a bigger and easier financial inclusion model,” he said.
At present a few public as well as private sector banks are trying to implement the IA-based solutions in India.
“Currently we are working with ISVs (independent software vendors) and have already rolled out solutions for financial inclusion which includes tightened security features that runs on IA,” Tadigadapa said.
The PMJDY scheme was flagged off Aug 28 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Till Sep 8, 30.2 million accounts have been opened of which 18.9 million are in rural areas and 11. 3 million in urban areas. Banks have collected deposits of Rs.1,496.51 crore under the scheme so far, says a finance ministry statement.
Talking about technology consumption in India, Tadigadapa said: “It’s growing in double digits, 20 percent or so in overall devices.”
” A lot of consumption is happening. Overall in India it is growing much faster in the hinterland. In South Asia each country has its own pattern and no country has the size that India has, in terms of diversity,” he added.
He said devices penetration will provide the necessary impetus to digital literacy drive in the country. “It’s increasing rapidly and that will provide the push.”
With the aim to turn the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy, the government has envisaged Rs.1 lakh crore Digital India project.
“There will be a lot of first time users in the rural India who have not seen technology but now they can see the benefits of technology,” he said.
Intel along with The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) had launched the National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) in August 2012 bringing together several players from the ecosystem on the same platform to work towards a common goal of accelerating digital literacy in India.
“We have trained two million people in two years in digital literacy and a majority are in the rural areas,” Tadigadapa said.
Regarding the purchasing capacity of devices by the people in the hinterland, he said: “Affordability is not much of an issue. Devices are available at various prices. Tablets at around $100 are also available in India.”
“India will be one of the top three markets in terms of devices very soon due to sheer amount of population. India is among the top five now.”
Though India has excelled in software services, presence of hardware manufacturing is zilch in the country. “We strongly feel that environment has to be created. We do strongly believe in a robust domestic ecosystem for the hardware including the manufacturing. We do speak with the government and share our experience of working with other countries,” he said.
“Once we have more hardware manufacturing there will be more efficiency in the cost structure. It will also provide the much needed relief on the forex,” Tadigadapa added.