Technology in Banking-Insight and Foresight for BTA_2011 ... - IDRBT

Technology in Banking 

Insight and Foresight 

Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology 

(Established by Reserve Bank of India)

Foreword 

The Indian banking industry, almost in keeping with the deep entrepreneurial approach of the 

country’s business, has come a long way. This report is an effort to capture some exemplary 

initiatives and developments so far as well as discuss the emerging trends. The insights and 

understanding of the technology trends and ground-level work being done by the banks has been 

culled from the nominations received from banks for the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence 

Awards 2010. 

The transformation of Indian banks in the last decade has been phenomenal — from local branch 

banking to global presence and anywhere-anytime banking. Most of the regular banking transactions 

can today be carried out from mobile phones. Sustained reforms and information technology (IT) 

have played a pivotal role since the initiation of the second phase of reforms post 1998. The benefits 

of technology such as scale, speed and low error rate are also reflecting in the performance, 

productivity and profitability of banks, which have improved tremendously in the past decade. 

Regulatory initiatives from the Central Bank have also played a large role in the banking sector. 

Robust technology-enabled organizations have now become the mainstay of the industry. Initiatives 

such as electronic clearing service (ECS), national electronic funds transfer (NEFT), real-time gross 

settlement (RTGS) have accelerated the pace of technology adoption by banks and enabled 

interconnectivity between banks. While the focus in the early stages was on technology adoption and 

aligning/retraining human capital, now with more or less suitable technology infrastructure in place 

and a young technology-adept workforce, banks are focusing on improving the performance and 

optimum utilization of IT systems. Most IT initiatives are today derived from business objectives. 

The report captures technology initiatives taken by banks in the areas of financial inclusion, mobile 

banking, electronic payments, IT implementation and management, managing IT risk, internal 

effectiveness, CRM initiatives and business innovation. While some areas have gained sufficient 

traction, others are still evolving. However, without doubt, technology has today become imperative 

for banks, and going forward, will become a strong business driver in all functional areas of the 

banking business. 

B. Sambamurthy 

Director 

Institute for Development & Research 

in Banking Technology 

Ashvin Parekh 

Partner and National Leader 

Global Financial Services 

Ernst & Young Pvt. Ltd.

Technology in Banking – Insight & Foresight 1 

Contents 

1. IDRBT Banking Technology Awards...........4 

1.1. Background ........................................................................................................................ 4 

1.2. Coverage ............................................................................................................................ 4 

1.3. Nomination Process ............................................................................................................ 5 

1.4. Evaluation Process .............................................................................................................. 5 

1.5. Announcement of the Awards ............................................................................................ 6 

1.6. Awards for this Year - 2010 - 2011 ...................................................................................... 6 

1.7. Major Changes during the Current Year .............................................................................. 6 

2. Introduction ................................. 7 

2.1. Technology and Transformation in Indian banking .............................................................. 7 

2.2. Business Growth and Expansion ......................................................................................... 7 

2.3. Areas of use of Information Technology (IT)........................................................................ 8 

2.4. Productivity and Efficiency .................................................................................................. 8 

2.5. IT Governance and Management Systems .......................................................................... 8 

3. Current and Emerging Trends in Banking Technology...............10 

3.1. Financial Inclusion .............................................................................................................10 

3.1.1. FI Accounts ....................................................................................................................12 

3.1.2. Distribution Network .....................................................................................................15 

3.1.3. Training and Development .............................................................................................16 

3.1.4. Review and Control ........................................................................................................17 

3.1.5. Technology ....................................................................................................................17 

3.1.6. Enrollment, Authentication and Transaction Process .....................................................18 

3.1.7. Way ahead.....................................................................................................................18 

3.2. Mobile Banking ..................................................................................................................18 

3.2.1. Mobile Money and the Indian Market ............................................................................19 

3.2.2. RBI’s take on Mobile Banking Transactions ....................................................................19 

3.2.3. Interbank Mobile Payments Service (IMPS) ...................................................................20 

3.2.4. Developments in the Mobile Banking Arena...................................................................21 

3.2.5. New Trends in Mobile: ...................................................................................................22 

3.2.6. Operator Bank Tie-ups ...................................................................................................22 

3.2.7. IMPS Merchant Payments ..............................................................................................22 

3.2.8. Prepaid Wallets and Mobile POS ....................................................................................23 

3.2.9. Critical Success Factors ..................................................................................................23 

3.2.10. The Road ahead .............................................................................................................25 


in Banking Technology


3.3. Electronic Payments ..........................................................................................................26 

3.3.1. Evolution of Electronic Payments in India .......................................................................26 

3.3.2. Overview of Electronic Payments Markets globally and in India .....................................26 

3.3.3. Vision of the Regulator ..................................................................................................27 

3.3.4. The Rise of Electronic Payments.....................................................................................28 

3.3.5. Trends in Electronic Payments .......................................................................................30 

3.3.6. Electronification Approaches by Indian Banks ................................................................31 

3.3.7. Internet Banking ............................................................................................................31 

3.3.8. Upcoming Technology Architecture ...............................................................................31 

3.3.9. Fraud and Security Aspects of Electronic Payments ........................................................31 

3.3.10. Emerging Payment Channels and Technologies ..............................................................31 

3.3.11. Real Time Gross Settlement System ...............................................................................31 

3.3.12. Rise of Prepaid Instruments ...........................................................................................32 

3.3.13. New Credit Bureaus .......................................................................................................32 

3.3.14. IMPS: Mobile-based Payment System ............................................................................32 

3.3.15. Future Trends ................................................................................................................32 

3.4. CRM Initiatives ..................................................................................................................33 

3.4.1. Customer Education ......................................................................................................34 

3.4.2. Grievance Handling ........................................................................................................34 

3.4.3. Customer Service Delivery Channels ..............................................................................34 

3.4.4. Cross-channel Integration ..............................................................................................35 

3.4.5. Analytics becoming the Dominant Technology ...............................................................35 

3.4.6. Increase in Cross-sales ...................................................................................................36 

3.4.7. CRM for Innovation ........................................................................................................36 

3.4.8. The Future — CRM 2.0 ...................................................................................................36 

3.5. IT Implementation and Management .................................................................................37 

3.5.1. IT Strategy Alignment with Business Alignment ..............................................................37 

3.5.2. IT Organization Structure ...............................................................................................38 

3.5.3. IT Infrastructure Physical Environment...........................................................................38 

3.5.4. Organizational Mechanism and Processes for Strategy Implementation .........................39 

3.5.5. IT as Strategic Enabler to Reduce Costs or Increase Revenues ........................................39 

3.5.6. Backup and Disaster Management Plan .........................................................................40 

3.5.7. Energy Management ......................................................................................................40 

3.5.8. Measurement of IT Performance ...................................................................................40 

3.5.9. IT as a ”Value” Creator ...................................................................................................41 

3.5.10. IT Risk Management Policy ............................................................................................41 

3.5.11. Management of IT Resources .........................................................................................41 




3.6. IT for Internal Effectiveness ...............................................................................................42 

3.7. Managing IT Risk ................................................................................................................43 

3.7.1. IT Risk Management Framework ....................................................................................43 

3.7.2. Policies and Procedures .................................................................................................44 

3.7.3. Managing IT Hardware Risks ..........................................................................................45 

3.7.4. Managing IT Software Risks: ..........................................................................................45 

3.7.5. Access Controls and Authentications .............................................................................46 

3.7.6. Physical Access ..............................................................................................................46 

3.7.7. Physical System Access ..................................................................................................47 

3.7.8. Logical Access ................................................................................................................47 

3.7.9. People risks to IT in terms of Security, Awareness and Availability .................................47 

3.7.10. IT Support ......................................................................................................................48 

3.7.11. Outsourcing of IT ...........................................................................................................48 

3.8. IT for business innovation ..................................................................................................49 

3.8.1. Use of IT for Business Innovation ...................................................................................50 

3.8.2. Trends in innovation in products and services offered: ..................................................51 

3.8.3. Innovation Trends in Processes ......................................................................................51 

3.8.4. Innovation in Business Model ........................................................................................53 

3.8.5. Key Issues ......................................................................................................................54 

4. Future Trends and the Changing Role of IT .................56 

4.1. Beyond Core Banking .........................................................................................................56 

4.2. Increasing Interconnectivity and Ease of Payments through Different Form Factors...........57 

4.3. Energy Management and Move towards ‘Green Technology’ ............................................57 

4.4. Increasing importance of CRM techniques and Knowledge management ...........................57 

4.5. Stronger Role of IT as Business Transformer/ Performer ....................................................59 




1. IDRBT Banking Technology Awards 

1.1. Background 

Banking Technology Excellence Awards were instituted in the year 2001 with a primary objective of 

encouraging and recognizing the excellence in implementation of Technology for better customer 

service, operational efficiency and expansion of banking services to the hitherto uncovered sections 

of Society. The category of awards has been undergoing changes over the years, in view of the focus 

of technology implementation at that time and the need to recognize and encourage a particular 

aspect of technology implementation. In the initial period, the Awards were given for 

implementation of branch computerization, Implementation of email Services, INFINET usage and 

applications, ATM networks, internet banking, etc. Gradually, the newer categories such as 

Information Security, IT Governance, Financial Inclusion, Customer Relationship Management etc., 

were covered. Extension of technology to semi-urban and rural areas has also been in focus in 

several years’ awards. 

1.2. Coverage 

The banks which are privately owned and the Foreign Banks generally had initial advantage in view of 

the extant guidelines as well as ability to extend the solutions implemented abroad as compared to 

the Indian Banks and particularly the Public Sector Banks. Therefore in the initial years, the focus of 

the awards was only the public sector banks. However, subsequently it was observed that some of 

the Public Sector Banks surged ahead in implementing technology even in the face of constraints and 

could compete effectively with their private and foreign peers. In view of this observation in the 

recent years’, awards selection process did not discriminate between banks with different ownership 

and compared their performance on merit. The only factor that was given consideration was the size 

of operations of the banks which determine the opportunities as well as challenges faced by the 

banks in implanting technology solutions. Rather than any specific criteria of size, the classification 

was based on judgmental discretion of the Jury Panel. 

The awards typically sought to recognize the efforts during the year rather than cumulative 

achievement over the years. As part of the nomination process, the banks were asked to provide 

detailed information covering both quantitative as well as qualitative aspects in the form of a 

detailed questionnaire for each award category. The evaluation of these submissions was done 

objectively by ranking the quantitative aspects as well as assigning scores to the qualitative aspects 

based on the comparative performance of the banks. For the purpose of evaluation, the statements 

made by the banks were taken to be correct on the face value and no cross validation of the 

responses was carried out by the evaluation teams. 

The only exception to this was when the 

apparently inconsistent responses were cross checked with concerned banks for clarification. During 

formal or informal interactions there were suggestions from Jury members over the years about 

asking the short-listed banks to make presentations. This could not be implemented on account of 

the difficulty in organizing this activity, in view of the busy schedule of the Jury members. 




1.3. Nomination Process 

Before calling for information from the banks and finalizing the questionnaire the evaluation 

parameters for each of the Award category are drawn up. Guidance of the Jury regarding their 

appropriateness and completeness is also sought. Thereafter detailed questionnaires are framed 

and sent to all the banks through a letter addressed to the IT chiefs. In addition, the Director also 

writes letters to the CEO’s informing them about the awards process. The Banks are normally given 

about three to four weeks time to provide the information. Experience has shown that a few banks 

normally seek a couple of days’ grace period for submission on account of several reasons. For the 

requests received prior to last date of submission, such grace period is generally granted. 

Subsequently an internal evaluation team consisting of two or three faculty members evaluates the 

submissions and assigns numeric scores to various banks on the different parameters. After 

completion of the initial evaluation and thorough discussion internally, a shortlist of probable 

winners in each category is drawn up by the internal evaluation team. This process was carried out 

jointly with the knowledge partners in the last two editions. Subsequently, a Jury meeting is held to 

discuss the evaluations and choose the winners. While most of the recommendations of the internal 

evaluation team generally find acceptance of the Jury, for some categories, there had been 

suggestions to make further enquiries or to further refine the evaluation process. In such cases, the 

final award winners are chosen either in a meeting or over email discussion. Whenever the Jury has 

found that there are no deserving winners in an award category either only one award is given or 

award is not given at all in that category. As such the number of awards finally given sometimes 

differs from the originally intended number. While selecting the winners and runner-ups for each of 

the Award categories, it is ensured that the difference between the winners and others is substantial 

and material. 

1.4. Evaluation Process 

In the initial years the evaluation of responses was wholly done in-house by the academic staff of the 

Institute. In 2008 and 2009 help of outside knowledge partners was also taken. For the 2008 awards 

the Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad was associated with the evaluation process. The 

knowledge partners for 2009 and 2010 Awards were Ernst & Young. The whole process starting from 

discussion on award categories to conduct of the award function normally takes about six months. 

The Jury typically consists of four / five members with eminent personalities from the Banking and 

Technology backgrounds serving as Jury members. The typical composition of Jury is: 

1. Serving or retired senior executives (Chairman / CEO) from bank, 

2. Senior central bankers, 

3. Eminent academicians in the field of Information Technology, 

4. Representatives of Indian Banks Association. 

In the initial years Director of the Institute was also member of the Jury, however in the last two 

editions it was not so. 




This year, the Jury consisting of the following adjudged the banks. 

Shri K. V. Kamath, Chairman, ICICI Bank, 

Dr. R. B. Barman, Former Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India; 

Prof. G. Sivakumar, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; 

Dr. K. Ramakrishnan, Chief Executive, Indian Banks Association; and 

Prof. S. Sadagopan, Director, International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-B), 

Bangalore; 

1.5. Announcement of the Awards 

The awards are announced and given away at a function held at IDRBT and attended by senior 

bankers including several CMDs. Normally the awards are given away at the hands of Governor, 

Reserve Bank of India. While giving away the awards only the names of winners and runner-ups are 

announced. Unlike other awards there is no practice to disclose the list of nominees or shortlisted 

banks. At the award function, the process of evaluation is also explained to the audience either by a 

member of internal team or by a member of Jury. 

1.6. Awards for this Year - 2010 - 2011 

Awards for the latest edition (for FY 2010-11) have been given in the following categories: 

Use of Technology for Financial Inclusion 

Mobile Banking 

Electronic Payments Systems 

IT Implementation & Management 

Use of IT for Internal Effectiveness 

Managing IT Risk 

1.7. Major Changes during the Current Year 

Banks were divided into two categories large and small (those having less than Rs. 50,000 Crores of 

deposits) to ensure a level playing field. 

There are no special awards (runner up) like last year. 

The Institute received a record number of nominations aggregating to 158 as against 70 received last 

year. 

There are no winners in the Innovation category for the second year in a row. 




2. Introduction 

2.1. Technology and Transformation in Indian banking 

Technology has brought about a complete paradigm shift in the functioning of banks and delivery of 

banking services. Gone are the days when every banking transaction required a visit to the bank 

branch. Today, most of the transactions can be done from the comforts of one’s home and 

customers need not visit the bank branch for anything. Technology is no longer an enabler, but a 

business driver. The growth of the internet, mobiles and communication technology has added a 

different dimension to banking. The information technology (IT) available today is being leveraged in 

customer acquisitions, driving automation and process efficiency, delivering ease and efficiency to 

customers. 

The increased penetration and impact on the scale of business can be judged from metrics such as 

deposit and credit per account, which according to the RBI data was INR6, 412 and INR20, 757 in 

1992 and INR19, 898 and INR84, 618 in 2000 — these metrics increased to INR59, 217 and INR258, 

751 in 2009, respectively, approximately thrice the levels in 2000 and 10 times the levels in 1992. 

Many of the IT initiatives of banks started in the late 1990s or early 2000 with an emphasis on the 

adoption of core banking solutions (CBS), automation of branches and centralization of operations in 

the CBS. Over the last decade, most of the banks completed the transformation to technology-driven 

organizations. Moving from a manual, scale-constrained environment to a global presence with 

automated systems and processes, it is difficult to envisage the adverse scenario the sector was in 

the era before the reforms, when a simple deposit or withdrawal of cash would require a day. ATMs, 

mobile banking and online bill payments facilities to vendors and utility service providers have almost 

obviated the need for customers to visit a branch. Branches are also transforming from operating as 

transaction processing points into relationship management hubs. The change has been very 

productive for banks bringing in an increase in productivity and operational efficiency to be more 

competitive. Better risk management due to centralization of information and real time availability of 

critical data for decision making. 

With most of the banks being technology-enabled, the focus is shifting to computerizing regional 

rural banks (RRBs). In addition, banks are moving toward decision making and business intelligence 

software and trying to optimize the IT infrastructure created. 

2.2. Business Growth and Expansion 

Over the last decade, the size of the banking industry has grown by 7.5 times. The business per 

employee has increased from INR27.6 million in 2005–06 to INR62.7million in 2009–10, while the 

profit per employee increased from INR0.12 million in 2005–06 to INR0.39 million in 2009–10. Indian 

banks are also no longer constrained by geography as they have worldwide operations. IT has been 

instrumental in the global expansion of banks. It is a huge challenge for banks to maintain and keep 

the vast network operational. IT has helped banks put in place alternate delivery channels such as 

internet and phone. Mobile banking and ATMs are rapidly becoming the prime delivery channels. The 

consolidation and centralization of information is also providing banks with accelerated decision 




making and risk management capabilities. Electronic payments through credit and debit cards are 

also emerging as a fast-growing segment providing ease of use and convenience to customers. 

The banking sector is projected to grow at a strong pace over the next decade and will need to 

strongly leverage the IT infrastructure to acquire and service the customer base and risk 

management. 

2.3. Areas of use of Information Technology (IT) 

The adoption of technology required banks to re-engineer processes, network branches and 

introduce alternate delivery channels such as internet banking, phone banking and mobile banking, 

data warehousing and data mining, customer relationship management, integrated treasury 

management, human resource management and the implementation of core banking solutions. 

In addition, many initiatives of the regulator such as ECS, RTGS and NEFT also led to overall 

technology adoption by banks. 

The basic technology adoption is almost complete and banks are now looking at improving the 

efficiency and effectiveness of the IT Infrastructure created. Newer areas of technology initiatives are 

enterprise risk management, business intelligence, improving internal effectiveness and managing IT 

risks. 

2.4. Productivity and Efficiency 

The extensive use of IT has helped banks deliver banking services and products more conveniently 

and effectively. The rapid access to critical information and the ability to act quickly and effectively 

has lent a critical edge to banks. It is difficult to quantify the exact impact of IT adoption on 

productivity and efficiency; however, broad parameters such as cost and profit per employee can be 

used as proxy to assess the impact that IT has had. Consistent management and decision support 

systems provide banks a competitive edge to forge ahead. The optimum utilization of IT 

infrastructure is fast becoming a priority as banks focus on better implementation and the 

measurement of efficiency parameters such as return on investment (ROI). 

IT should be considered as a service unit in the bank and IT performance metrics should be 

developed to properly assess benefits. Currently, there are various types of monitoring, which 

happen at various levels to measure IT performance on availability, budget, projects, capacity 

planning and expansion, among other parameters. Performance measurement tracks and monitors 

strategy implementation, project completion, resource usage, process performance and service 

delivery, using, for example, balanced scorecards that translate strategy into action to achieve goals 

measurable beyond conventional accounting. 

2.5. IT Governance and Management Systems 

With the increasing importance of financial systems in the global and domestic economies and the 

ever-increasing regulatory compliance requirements, banks are also automating risk assessment and 

management systems. IT governance and management is increasingly acquiring importance with 

board-approved governance policies, alignment of business and IT teams and realignment of 

organization structures for the smoother implementation of IT projects. Organization structure has 




been defined, ensuring all the requirements of business with respect to IT projects, enhancements to 

applications and infrastructure, backup, finance and budgets and IT governance. The Responsibility 

Accountability Consulted Informed (RACI) Matrix has also been defined to better clarify the roles and 

responsibilities and segregation of duties. 

Business and IT teams have to increasingly work together for new IT initiatives to meet business 

goals. The IT Strategy Committee has representations from IT as well as from business and 

operations. The involvement and interaction is facilitated across the board based on the constitution 

of the project teams and the steering committee. The IT project management process defines the 

documents/templates required for all IT projects with clear roles and responsibilities for the 

completion of these templates. The IT Steering Committee plays a vital role in ensuring that the IT 

strategy is implemented as envisaged by the senior management. 

Here are some of the tools being used to enforce and improve IT governance: 

IT Governance Portal contains all the IT policies, workflows, procedures and templates. The 

links to important and interesting websites such as itgi.org, itil.org and isaca.org are 

available. There is a schedule for IT training programs. A link is also available for feedback 

and queries on IT processes. 

The Universal Service Desk (USD) tool for users to log calls for various service requests, 

incidents and change requests to name a few. 

The Control and Compliance Suite (CCS) tool has the capabilities of mapping various 

standards/compliances to IT policies. 

The COMET (COmpliance and MEasurement Techniques) process, a self-assessment exercise, 

using tools persuading process owners to confirm adherence to established processes has 

been implemented. The periodic scorecards of processes based on self-assessment have 

been published. 




3. Current and Emerging Trends in Banking Technology 

3.1. Financial Inclusion 

India witnessed a sustained period of strong economic growth since the onset of economic reforms 

in the early 1990s. The banking sector has grown tremendously over the last two decades. With 

approximately 40% of the Indian population having a bank account, large sections of the population 

have been excluded from financial services and are therefore unable to participate fully in the 

economic growth. Further, the potential of the financial system has not been harnessed fully due to 

the extent of financial exclusion prevailing today. Financial inclusion, in recent years, has emerged as 

a major policy initiative. The Reserve Bank of India has significantly scaled up its efforts aimed at 

increasing the level of penetration of bank financing in the economy. The government has set up two 

funds — the Financial Inclusion Fund to meet the costs of developmental and promotional 

interventions toward financial inclusion, and the Financial Inclusion Technology Fund to meet the 

costs of technology adoption. The regulation on branch licensing has been relaxed to promote 

financial inclusion. Domestic commercial banks are also required to prepare their own financial 

inclusion plans (FIPs) and implement them over the coming years, adhering to their laid-out 

performance assessment norms. The RBI has progressively liberalized the branch authorization 

policy, providing in-built incentives for branch expansion in the unbanked areas. 

There have been considerable efforts toward financial inclusion through State Level Bankers 

Committee (SLBC) convener banks and lead banks. The regulator advised lead banks to constitute a 

sub-committee of District Consultative Committees to draw a roadmap to provide banking services 

through a banking outlet in every village with a population of more than 2,000 people. The BC model 

was comprehensively reviewed. In November 2009, banks were permitted to engage the following 

additional entities as BCs (a) individual kirana/ medical/fair price shop owners, (b) individual public 

call office operators, (c) agents of small saving schemes of the Government of India/insurance 

companies, (d) individuals who owned petrol pumps, (e) retired teachers, (f) authorized functionaries 

of well-run SHGs linked to banks. Further, with a view to ensuring the viability of the BC model, banks 

(not BCs) were permitted to collect reasonable service charges from the customer, in a transparent 

manner. In April 2010, the BC ambit was further widened by permitting banks to engage any 

individual as BC, subject to their comfort level and their carrying out due diligence, as also instituting 

additional safeguards considered appropriate to minimize agency risks. 

Scheduled commercial banks (SCBs), especially public sector banks, have stepped up efforts toward 

financial inclusion. However, there is a need to ensure that financial inclusion does not end up being 

only a number target. It should qualitatively be such that it makes a difference to the lives of those 

who are financially included by the process. Banks have been permitted by the RBI to engage the 

services of approved intermediaries to be engaged as business facilitators and business 

correspondents with the objective of ensuring greater financial inclusion and increasing the outreach 

of the bank branches. In the process of outsourcing vital banking services, the bank is exposed to 

both operational and reputational risks. This requires efficient and effective monitoring of the 

activities of the business correspondents by the concerned branches to safeguard the interests of the 

bank's customers. 




The implementation of the FI business strategy required a new business model to be adopted. Banks 

are slowly, but steadily, working to implement this strategy. 

The primary models adopted by banks to establish a linkage with the excluded populace are: 

Business correspondents (BCs) 

Self help group linkage 

Branchless banking — mobile vans 

Bulk lending to MFIs 

Mobile-based — M-Paisa and IMPS 

Exhibit 1: Financial Inclusion Business Models 

Product/service design 

· No frill saving account with 

overdraft facility 

· Recurring deposit 

· Kisan credit card 

· General credit card 

· Life and health insurance 

Reach 

· Brick and mortar 

· Business correspondent 

· Self help groups 

· Branchless banking – mobile vans 

· Mobile based – M-paisa IMPS 

Capacity building 

· Front-end systems 

· Back-end systems 

· Human capital 

· Risk management 

· Awareness and outreach programs 

· Training and development 

· Monitoring and process 

improvement 

Most banks have a basic product/service suite available for FI services, while some institutions have 

also started profiling customers to provide appropriate risk-managed products and services. Nearly 

all the banks that responded have set up a separate FI department for the implementation, with 

appropriate processes in place for customer acquisition, transaction processing and back-end 

systems. Banks are strengthening their efforts in training and development activities for BCs, 

employees and SHGs and creating awareness among the target customers. Financial exclusion is not 

just a rural but an urban phenomenon as well and one of the large PSU banks has made noticeable 

effort in this regard with their “Branchless Banking for Short Distance Commercial Vehicle (SDCV) 




Community” initiative. The bank tries to provide branchless banking services to drivers, cleaners, 

conductors and helpers who ply their vehicles for short distances by tying up with petrol pumps to 

provide banking services. Based on the feedback the service is planned to be extended to truckers 

and lorry drivers. It is planned to expand to 100 centers by March 2012 from the current 20. The 

Bank is also implementing a mobile based solution that would co-exist with the RFID Cards and the 

device at the petrol pumps would be able to handle transactions from the cell phones of the users as 

well as from the Smart Cards. This would enable the users to carry out the transactions themselves 

and visit the petrol pumps only for cash-in and cash-out. 

3.1.1. FI Accounts 

Exhibit 2: FI accounts (million) 

A strong momentum is now increasingly visible as far as opening no-frill, FI savings and credit 

accounts (Kisan Credit Card — KCC and General Credit Card — GCC) is concerned. Responding banks 

have opened a total of 48.7 million such accounts. As expected, PSU banks have done better than the 

average by opening 3.4 million accounts, as against 2.6 million accounts for all banks. We also 

witnessed that median number of FI accounts for all banks is 2.2 million, which means that some of 

the small and private banks are skewing the numbers at the lower end of the spectrum and need to 

step-up efforts in that direction. 

However, account opening should not only be considered as effective implementation. We identified 

the percentage of active accounts, which we defined as accounts that have at least four transactions 

in the last financial year and we observed a radical change in the scenario. The average percentage of 

active accounts hovered around 40% on an average across all banks. 




Exhibit 3: Active FI accounts (%) 

Exhibit 4: Active FI accounts (million) 

A look at the two primary modes of reaching the excluded customer, the BC and SHG model shows 

that most of the banks are clustered towards the lower end of the spectrum with an average of 2.6 

million accounts and 1500 BCs. The SHG scatter diagram is much more spread out. PSU banks clearly 

have put in more efforts in developing and linking SHGs. Though the ratio of accounts per SHG is 

lower, the SHG-bank linkage model affords a better risk managed model and a better activation rate 

than the BC model. 




Exhibit 5: BC model 

Exhibit 6: SHG model 

*Note – The size denotes the number of FI accounts. 

The business correspondent-led model is much more leveraged in terms of customer acquisitions. 

The average number of FI accounts is 1,724 accounts per BC or BC agent. For SHGs, the number is 26 

accounts per SHG. However, there is no particular trend that is clearly visible. As expected, smaller 

banks seem to be clustered toward the lower end of the spectrum with a smaller number of BCs as 

well as SHGs linked. Large PSU banks occupy the higher end of the spectrum; these banks have both 

a large number of BCs as well as SHGs linked. 




3.1.2. Distribution Network 

Realizing the difficulties in reaching the excluded customers, the RBI allowed the banks to appoint 

intermediaries for customer acquisition and transaction processing. Banks have made increased 

efforts in enrolling BCs and SHGs for reaching the clients. The charts below reveal that large banks 

have made significant inroads in enrolling BCs and SHGs. Private and smaller banks have a long way 

to go in scaling up operations. 

Exhibit 7: BCs 

Exhibit 8: SHGs 

The data in these exhibits reveals that large banks have made considerable inroads in enrolling BCs 

and SHGs. On an overall basis, there were approximately 1,500 BCs and 1 lac SHGs enrolled, large 

banks outperformed the average with 2,000 BCs and 1.19 lacs SHGs. 




Exhibit 9: Business correspondents 

Exhibit 10: SHGs 

3.1.3. Training and Development 

During the year 2010-11, the nominating banks trained a total of 78,169 people, including BCs, SHGs, 

employees and others (RSETIs — Rural Self Employment Training Institutes). Banks are also stepping 

up awareness campaigns, preparing village credit plans, incentivizing BCs for customer acquisition 

and setting up RSETIs. Financial inclusion should be meaningful and holistic and it should be ensured 

that no frill accounts are put to work. Financial literacy and awareness constitute another most 

critical element in putting no-frill accounts to work. Access to banking services through a no-frill 

account is an enabling condition. The necessary condition would be fulfilled if there is wider 

awareness of the entire range of banking products and services. Such awareness should also help in 

alleviating apprehensions and instilling faith and trust in the banking institutions and financial 

services they proffer, among the excluded section of the society, especially in rural areas. 




3.1.4. Review and Control 

In order to have a better review mechanism and to have proper control on the functioning of the 

outsourced agencies, particularly business correspondents, it is now felt necessary to have a 

structured periodical reporting mechanism, so as to enable the branches to supervise the business 

generated by business correspondents and take immediate corrective steps to redress the genuine 

grievances of the customers who are serviced by the business correspondents. 

3.1.5. Technology 

Most banks have a set up a separate IT infrastructure for financial inclusion. There are systems 

geared for low-value high-volume transactions with implementations varying from 500 to 1,500 

transactions per second. 

The technologies deployed for financial inclusion are: 

Biometric smart card 

Handheld biometric POS device for authentication and transaction 

GPRS-enabled mobile phones 

Core banking solution 

Most of the banks have deployed the model of operating as end-to-end service providers for 

financial inclusion initiatives. The POS machines are seamlessly integrated with CBS systems through 

the FI Gateway System. The data from POS machines is first transferred to the CBS system of service 

providers that consolidates and sends out data on a daily basis to the bank’s server. For the self-help 

group model through the branches for reaching out to people at the last mile, the technology of 

service providers is converged at a branch, which operates through the regular CBS system. 

The choice of multiple service providers and different models has been seamlessly captured in the 

bank’s system and therefore the portability is easily achieved across different systems such as UIDAI 

and NPCI. 

The Smart Cards and the associated fingerprints of the customer provide unique, foolproof 

identification of customers without the requirement of a PIN/Password, which is required in the 

other customer delivery channels. The fingerprint identification ensures non-repudiation and the 

solution deployed is offline and requires only the device to carry out transactions. 

There is a “day- begin” to synchronize and download the balance on to the card and the “day-end” 

would enable the settlement and creation of data files, which would be used to update the balances 

in the account at the back-end. The communication channel can be either GPRS or dial-up or CDMA, 

depending on the availability of the service. The device has a lithium ion battery for backup during 

power breakdowns. The device can work on car/sealed maintenance free (SMF) batteries as well 

during long power outages. 

The POS device has also got voice guidance in the local languages to facilitate the semi-literate and 

the functionally literate villagers to understand transactions carried out by them. The transaction 

amount is spoken and the customer authorizes transactions using their fingerprints. 




3.1.6. Enrollment, Authentication and Transaction Process 

During enrollments done by the Field BC, the account opening form is filled at the field level in the 

presence of the branch personnel supervising this work. The customer details are then fed in the POS 

system. After the customer’s information is completely filled up on the POS, this enrollment data is 

pushed to the FI server of the service provider, which will generate a unique reference number per 

customer. This number is written down by the FB on the individual account opening form of the 

customer. 

The scheduler at the FI server reads the unique number and pushes the data to the relevant branch 

from where this POS is mapped to the base branch. The base branch will view this enrollment data in 

the CBS menu for financial inclusion and view and correct the data at the branch end, in case of any 

wrong entry in the names and addresses after verifying the account opening forms. The data is then 

authenticated at the branch terminals. Once authenticated, the CBS system generates a CIF number 

and an account number for a specific customer, which is written on the account opening form. This 

form is then preserved at the branch level. 

3.1.7. Way ahead 

The financial inclusion initiative is gathering momentum with increased efforts from banks to cover 

the unbanked population through the BC and SHG route. Most of the private sector banks seem to 

favor the BC model, while public sector banks are taking both the BC as well as the SHG route. In the 

near future, we are likely to witness and increase in the active accounts as more and more subsidy 

payments are disbursed directly. In addition, the trust and awareness-building measures carried out 

by banks will start to show effect. However, banks and policymakers still need to figure out a way of 

keeping the accounts active and not letting included customers fall back into exclusion. Mobile 

remittance and transfers from the migratory labor are also expected to increase in the near future, 

given the convenience they offer. 

3.2. Mobile Banking 

India has 700 million+ mobile subscribers, but only 240 million individuals with bank accounts, 20 

million credit cards, 88,000 bank branches and 70,000 ATMs. Of the households without a bank 

account, 42% have at least one mobile phone. This is just a snapshot into the penetration that mobile 

has achieved in a relatively small period of time. 

Mobile banking could be a revolution in banking. It has been in the news for quite a while and, very 

recently, the transaction limit for mobile wallet cards was increased to INR50K. Mobile banking in 

India is set to generate a fee-based income of INR202.5 billion (approx. US$4.5 billion) over the next 

five years, mainly driven by lower transaction costs, favorable regulatory environment and the UID 

project. 

By 2015, US$350 billion in payment and banking transactions could flow through mobile phones, 

compared with about US$235 billion of total credit-and debit-card transactions today. This forecast 

depends on the willingness of banks, telecom operators, regulators and consumers collectively to 

embrace this form of payment. 




It is less expensive to offer banking and payment services using mobile technology than to build new 

branches in a country that, outside of major cities, is still largely rural. As mobile-money initiatives 

take shape, the projected fee income in India from mobile payment and banking transactions could 

exceed US$4.5 billion by 2015. Although the fee size seems large, the amount is less than it may 

appear. These fees will be shared by banks, telecom operators, device manufacturers and service 

providers. 

3.2.1. Mobile Money and the Indian Market 

There are essentially two mobile banking meta-markets in India: rural and urban. Over the next five 

years, unbanked rural markets could begin to rival the urban market in size. In urban areas, many 

consumers have bank accounts, but still rely on cash for 90% to 95% of small-ticket transactions. 

Mobile payments would not only seek to change the cash-based nature of transactions, but also 

would be a tremendous convenience for these consumers. 

The mobile banking industry in India is ready to take off, especially with the ecosystem players, i.e., 

operators, banks and mobile manufacturers coming together and launching pilot services. The bigger 

question still remains whether these services are planned keeping “consumers” at the center, or 

whether it is just about the proof of concepts. 

The Inter Bank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) facility was launched with much fanfare in November 

2010, under the aegis of the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI). It promised an instant 

interbank electronic fund transfer service that customers could conveniently access using their 

mobile phones. However, although the facility is being offered by more than 20 banks across the 

country, the adoption rate has been low. Industry analysts have attributed this to the fact that the 

service in its current format is custom-made for Smartphone users who can download an application 

from their respective banks and use it to make a fund transfer. Users with basic phones have the 

option of transferring funds via an SMS, which limits the transaction value. 

With more than 600 million connections and over 15 million being added each month, the belief is 

that herein lays the panacea and the pill for the great Indian dream for universal financial access. 

Often considered a utopian and untenable policy statement issued in corporate boardrooms and 

election speeches, mobile is visibly the immediate opportunity to drive financial inclusion. The key 

questions delve into the facts that whether this would happen on the existing payment architectures 

or seed another one altogether. 

The following subsections are important from the point of view of mobile as the dominant channel. 

3.2.2. RBI’s take on Mobile Banking Transactions 

The RBI introduced operative guidelines for banks for mobile banking transactions in India in October 

2008 under the umbrella of the Payments & Settlements Act 2007 with a few revisions and 

clarifications outlined in subsequent releases. The key highlights of the act are: 

Only INR-based domestic services are permissible, clearly prohibiting the use of cross-border 

inward and outward transfers. 

Banks are allowed to use the services of business correspondents top extend this facility to 

customers. 




Only banks with core banking solutions would be permitted to provide mobile banking 

services on their platform. 

The customer registration for mobile banking is mandatory. 

The mobile banking service offered by banks should be network operator-agnostic and 

should work across the entire mobile spectrum of operators. 

To ensure inter-operability between banks, message formats such as ISO 8583 were to be 

adopted for transactions. 

To enable a nationwide mobile banking framework, facilitating inter-bank settlement, a robust 

clearing and settlement infrastructure operating on a 24x7 basis was considered necessary. However, 

the pending creation of such a national infrastructure, banks were permitted to enter into a bilateral 

or multilateral arrangement for interbank settlements. Transaction limits were placed with a daily 

cap of INR5K per customer for funds transfer and INR10K per customer for purchase transactions. 

The Reserve Bank of India has allowed 39 banks to launch mobile banking services and recently 

raised the limit for the amount, which can be paid through mobile phones tenfold to INR 50K. 

Currently, just 5% of mobile phone subscribers are registered for the service. Even among the 

registered users, only a small fraction uses it regularly. Approximately 680,000 transactions worth 

INR610 million (US$13.55 million) are conducted every month. 

The RBI also decided to permit the issue of mobile phones based on a semi-closed system of pre-paid 

payment instruments (semi-closed mobile wallets) complying with the following conditions: 

The purchase/reloading of these instruments against the value of airtime/talk time should 

not be permitted. 

This facility should be enabled only to facilitate the purchase of goods and services. The 

person-to-person transfer of value should not be permitted. 

The monetary ceilings on prepaid instruments issued are based on customer due diligence under the 

extant guidelines. 

3.2.3. Interbank Mobile Payments Service (IMPS) 

IMPS offers an instant, 24X7, interbank electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones. IMPS 

facilitates customers to use mobile instruments as a channel for accessing their bank accounts and 

put high interbank fund transfers in a secure manner with immediate confirmation features. 

The IMPS money transfer is instantaneous. Both the remitter and the beneficiary receive SMS’ from 

their respective banks immediately after the transaction. A bank customer needs to register as a 

mobile banking customer to avail of the benefit as a beneficiary. For remitting money, the customer 

would have to download the software (one-time activity) on the mobile and activate the same. The 

number of users is growing by about 10,000 each day. 

Operative guidelines were followed up by the introduction of IMPS by the National Payments Council 

of India, allowing the bank’s registered customers to transfer funds between banks via their mobile 

phones. The earlier models allowed only transfers between customers having an account with the 

same bank. 




Customers are required to register with the participating banks and receive a unique seven 

digit MMID (mobile money transfer identified number). 

There is no requirement of internet connectivity or a personal computer. 

The service may be operated via SMS or a special application installed on the customer’s 

handset. 

This facility is provided by NPCI through its existing NFS switch. The eligible criteria for the banks that 

can participate in IMPS are as follows: 

The bank should be a member of the National Financial Switch (NFS) driven by NPCI. 

The bank should have received an approval from RBI for its mobile banking service. 

Banks have issued nearly 8.5 million mobile money identifiers (MMID) to customers. The mobile 

payments system is poised to become a popular mode of fund transfer in the coming months. The 

MMID, in combination with the mobile number, acts as a proxy for the account number. Many 

customers, who would like to receive money electronically and are reluctant (for security purposes) 

in revealing their bank branch and account number, would have a solution. They can now share their 

mobile number and MMID with the remitter without the fear of providing personal banking details. 

MMID, in combination with the mobile number, would uniquely point to an account number in a 

bank. A person having multiple bank accounts would have multiple MMIDs tagged with the same 

mobile number. 

This model can potentially allow more than 300 million bank accounts (estimated 200 million active) 

to transfer funds within 700 million mobile phone connections, possibly making this the largest 24x7 

real-time Interbank transfer facility in the world. 

3.2.4. Developments in the Mobile Banking Arena 

RBI has been insisting repeatedly that mobile payments in India have to be driven by a bank–led 

model. This has prompted several stakeholders such as handset manufacturers, network providers 

and telecom operators to enter into strategic tie ups with banks to develop a scalable model. Several 

offerings have emerged or are around the corner over the past year. 

RBI came up with the regulation of an additional factor across IVR and mobile channels. This 

affected mobile service aggregators such as ngpay, Mchek and Paymate. 

Several new banks have come up with their mobile banking offering through java-based 

applications. Newer channels such as USSD and SMS have also gained in prominence after 

RBI increased the limit for unencrypted transactions over mobile channel to INR 5,000 per 

day. 

Banks such as SBI offer certain value-added services such as prepaid mobile recharge, which 

has been a hugely successful functionality. SBI boasts of more than 1 million customers in its 

mobile banking platform freedom by virtue of balanced service offerings as well as effective 

customer communication. 

Apparently, the regulator believes that mobile banking is yet to show remarkable growth 

even after the daily transaction limits have been raised to INR 50,000 per day per customer. 

Apart from major banks such as SBI and ICICI, other banks are still to gain numbers in terms 

of volume and value of transactions. 




Nokia Money launched its services with Yes Bank and Union Bank of India to provide financial 

services to customers. Nokia plans to use its distribution network coupled with the financial 

prowess of the banks to provide a service of its kind. 

Airtel received approval to issue prepaid instruments from regulators and launch it in the 

name of Airtel Money. Other mobile operators too are defining models wherein payment 

and/or transfer enabling instruments would be launched either on their own or with banks, 

leveraging the principles of business correspondents. 

In the area of proximity payments, Citibank, in conjunction with Vodafone and Nokia 

conducted an NFC (near field communication)-based mobile payments trial in Bangalore, 

which saw considerable success. However, the scalability would depend on the proliferation 

and adoption of NFC-enabled handsets and acceptance capabilities at merchant outlets. 

There are several players in the space of financial inclusion such as FINO, ATOM, Eko and 

ALW who offer a bouquet of services such as deposits, cash withdrawals and payment and 

transfer transactions via the mobile channel. 

3.2.5. New Trends in Mobile: 

The success of MPesa in Kenya has provided an appetite for a host of global players whose entry into 

the Indian market is only a matter of time. The Indian market for payments and transfers is set to 

witness several interesting and possibly unique business models and consumer propositions. 

Furthermore, with the introduction of 3G services, a host of value-added products and services will 

be unleashed, which could potentially be purchased via mobile based wallets managed or even 

operated by mobile operators. 

3.2.6. Operator Bank Tie-ups 

Three of India’s largest mobile operators have tied up with India’s largest banks to offer a bouquet of 

mobile-based banking and financial services to their customers. 

Airtel and State Bank of India: A joint venture company has been set up that envisages 

opening bank accounts, cashless transfers, cashless spending and payment facilities, 

targeting the rural and urban poor. Customers would be offered a no-frills banking account 

from SBI, across Airtel’s 1.5 million+ retailer network. Both partners have envisaged investing 

more than INR1 billion in this enterprise. The JV plans to acquire more than 2 million 

accounts annually. 

Vodafone and the ICICI Bank: Similar arrangement being entered offering financial products 

ranging from savings accounts, prepaid instruments and credit products through a mobile 

phone platform 

Idea and Axis Bank: They have entered into an association to offer financial services to 

customers under the Idea Mycash brand. These players have partnered a pilot launch in the 

Dharavi-Allahabad corridor and have plans to shortly launch the service at a pan-India scale. 

3.2.7. IMPS Merchant Payments 

NPCI, encouraged by the launch of IMPS for individual-to-individual money transfers, is all set to 

foray into the field of merchant payments. RBI has already permitted the payments institution to go 

ahead with merchant payments on the IMPS platform. NPCI is all set to launch the pilot of this new 

service with seven banks. 




3.2.8. Prepaid Wallets and Mobile POS 

Stored value prepaid wallets are being experimented in a large way in India and it is believed that 

prepaid-based mobile wallets can drive financial inclusion. The greatest advantage for mobile is that 

it breaks the investment barrier. This feature is being used to convert mobile devices to POS in 

inaccessible areas. 

3.2.9. Critical Success Factors 

Any mobile phone solution for non-cash retail transactions needs to have certain basic characteristics 

to succeed: 

Mass reach: The solution must be adopted by small traders and delivery agents for whom 

transaction volumes or values are low for supporting credit card and similar non-cash 

payment mechanisms 

Secure: Must be compliant with RBI guidelines for end-to-end encryption, fraud protection, 

etc. 

Service provider agnostic: Solution must not be linked to a particular service provider. 

Convenient/Easy: Payment through mobile phones must be convenient, easy and faster 

compared to cash and other non-cash payment mechanisms. 

Low set-up costs and time: The effort required and the cost of set up has to be much lower 

compared to traditional PoS. 

No/little requirement of additional infrastructure: The ecosystem required should be 

primarily set up, based on the existing wireless telecom infrastructure and the current 

mobile phones used by customers and merchants. 

Competitive pricing with existing methods: Pricing needs to be competitive with other noncash 

payment mechanisms. 

Given the specific conditions and critical factors required for the success of mobile payments in India, 

there is a need for a customized mobile payment solution, which does not just copy the 

West/matured economies, nor is it extremely influenced from any other country based on its initial 

success outside India. 

There are multiple models of mobile payments that can be adopted are prepaid instruments where 

the balance is credited before the purchase by a top-up transaction, direct debit where the bank 

account is directly debited for the purchase, and the post-paid wallet where it is either linked to a 

credit card or a mobile account and the customer has to pay for the purchase at the time of 

settlement with the credit provider. 

A solution that meets the above critical success factors has the potential to succeed as an effective 

mobile payment instrument in India. 

The figures below reflect the average daily value of mobile-to-mobile and mobile-to-others. As is 

evident, the numbers for the mobile transfers have not picked up. However, the transactions value of 

the large banks seems to be high, which is a positive index of growth. 




Exhibit 11: Average daily value of mobile to mobile fund transfers (INR’000) 

Exhibit 12: Average daily value of mobile to others fund transfers (INR’000) 




Exhibit 13: Average value per transaction (INR) 

3.2.10. The Road ahead 

Mobile phones are as much a part of our pockets as are our wallets and vehicle/home keys. This not 

only suggests the importance, but the level of dependence on phones. To tie the loose end, banking 

through a mobile channel is very intuitive and is the logical idea for banks and consumers alike. 

However, it is daunting and confusing to implement. In today’s world of electronic-based accounts, 

money is “information” passing through communications networks. The customer experience at the 

ATM — punching in a PIN, selecting among various options, being instantly gratified, evokes our 

mobile phone experience. 

Mobile banking is a very lucrative vertical for growth-oriented banks. The alliances with mobile 

operators will play a key role in this growth strategy: 

Leverage operator’s key assets 

Use mobile operator’s widespread wireless coverage and extensive use of wireless devices as 

part of a branchless expansion program. Branch economics, with heavy capital and labor 

costs, favor an environment for branches that is densely populated and where the customer 

transacts at higher values. 

Take advantage of the large and tiered distribution networks of mobile operators to roll out 

their banking agents 

Telecommunications companies have substantial leverage in mobile banking. Banks need to work 

with mobile operators if they want to create mobile banking services that are highly customerfriendly, 

fast and secure. Mobile operators’ control of the SIM, plus the attraction of leveraging their 

distribution networks, puts them in a strong negotiating position. 

While this is conducive for a bank with an already large base (customer or asset), this may create a 

challenge for smaller banks, who may find it more difficult to strike the right deal with stronger 

operators, or who might simply struggle to get them at the negotiating table. It also may create a 

tension with the principle of interoperability across networks, because tighter relationships may not 

be achievable with all networks. 




For mobile payments to even remotely become a substitute for liquidity (cash), the key is a wide 

acceptance network. This is the real anchor of the value proposition for mobile banking customers. 

To derive maximum value from remote transactions, using the cell phone just like an internet 

terminal, begins with getting people to leave more cash in their accounts. This may happen when 

people see that there are many ways in which they can cash out. Once that network is established, 

the value of transacting remotely may become more apparent. 

Banks that want to use mobile banking to reach unbanked customers need access to marketing 

channels and brand credibility with precisely those customers who have been excluded from 

banking. Unlike most banks, mobile operators traditionally use a mass-market approach and aim to 

get into the pocket of every citizen in the form of mobiles. 

Mobile applications-based banking is poised to emerge as a significant m-commerce feature, and if 

South Africa’s foray into mass mobile banking is any indication, mobile banking could well be the 

driving factor to increase the sales of high-end mobile phones. Nevertheless, banks need to take a 

hard and deep look into the mobile usage patterns among their target customers and enable the 

requisite technology on their mobile services to reach out to the majority of their customers. Mobile 

banking is slated to get big in terms of volumes and value; it is projected to drive the financial 

revolution at the bottom of the pyramid. However, the times ahead will indicate whether the banks 

will ascend toward financial strength over mobiles or a new ecosystem would emerge comprising 

various stakeholders to tap the hidden potential of mobile banking. 

3.3. Electronic Payments 

Payments are an age old phenomena that have been with human beings since ages. We have 

certainly evolved, having come a long way from the barter system to written promises such as notes 

to quite recently adopted electronic payments. 

3.3.1. Evolution of Electronic Payments in India 

The electronic payments in India have evolved steadily over the past few years. The first big leap 

came in the late 1990s with the growth of the ECS debit and credit transaction, then came the rise of 

internet banking in the early 2000s and the introduction of RTGS in 2004 and NEFT in 2005. Recent 

years have seen the rise of newer channels such as prepaid instruments and mobile phones. While 

the traditional cash-based and paper-based channels continue in the retail space, electronification 

has demonstrated significant progress in these years. 

3.3.2. Overview of Electronic Payments Markets globally and in India 

The total turnover of various payment and settlement systems in India grew by 16% in value 

terms in 2009–10. The annual turnover in payment systems has been increasing as a ratio of 

GDP, consistent with the financial deepening of the economy. 

In 2010, India’s electronic payments were US$17 trillion (INR786trillion). In 2009, McKinsey 

estimated India’s payments industry revenues at US$14 billion. Payment flows (both 

electronic and paper) are 7.8 times the GDP, comparable to many Western countries and 

emerging economies such as Brazil (7.3), Italy (7.2) and the US. (7.0). 




There has been significant growth in the electronic payments from below 5% of the total 

value in 2005 to 88% in FY10, largely due to the electronification of business-to-business 

payments. 

Electronification is a relatively new concept in consumer transactions and the transactions 

are mostly cash and paper-based. In this segment, less than 3% of the consumer-to-business 

flow value is electronic. 

Subject to variance between banks, payments contributed about 30% of bank revenues. 

Most of this was from transaction banking (including cash management plus trade and 

supply-chain financing), credit cards and cash and paper transactions. The majority of 

payment flows occur to and within the business sector. 

With over US$133 billion payments from bank accounts via ECS and NEFT, electronic fund transfers 

have emerged as the much-preferred option for transactions, with an increasing orientation toward 

cashless and even cheque-less payments in India. 

3.3.3. Vision of the Regulator 

The Indian retail payments space has witnessed several key events in the recent past. These 

developments are expected to potentially influence and catalyze the electronic payments landscape 

in this decade. 

The Reserve Bank of India, after setting up the Board for Payment and Settlement Systems in 2005, 

released a vision document, which outlined the vision for moving from a predominantly cash-based 

payment system to an electronic system, which is more efficient. It was meant to establish a 

framework and emerge as a handbook of regulations to develop efficient payment systems. 

The vision also proposed the formation of an umbrella institution, which would consolidate and 

integrate multiple systems with varying service levels into nation-wide uniform and standard 

business process for all retail payment systems. The other objective was to facilitate an affordable 

payment mechanism to benefit the common populace across the country and help financial 

inclusion. 

To enable the finalization of a framework for the delivery of basic financial services using mobile 

phones, the Cabinet Secretariat constituted an inter-ministerial group (IMG) in 2009. The framework 

envisages the creation of “mobile-linked no frills accounts,” enabling a basic set of transactions via a 

mobile PIN-based system. 

The government plans the implementation of a UID (unique identifier), a 12-digit number for every 

citizen of India, to enable a national identifier for all citizens. MasterCard is developing a payment 

solution for “Aadhar” (UID), which should pave the road ahead for integrated electronic payments. 

The payment system in India has gone through significant transition over the past decade. Based in 

the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2009, RBI has regulated the charges being imposed by 

banks to their customers. Some of the examples of these regulations are: 

RBI, effective 8 October 2008, rationalized the charges levied by banks for outstation cheque 

collections as well as electronic products such as RTGS/NEFT/ECS. 

RBI had set a ceiling on cheque collection charges as INR50, INR100 and INR150 for cheque 

amounts, respectively, up to INR10,000, INR10,001 to INR1,00,000 and more than 

INR1,00,000. 




For Inward RTGS/NEFT/ECS transactions, RBI has mandated that no charge is to be levied. For 

outward transactions, the limits for RTGS of INR1,00, 000 to 5,00,000 should not exceed 

INR25 and INR5,00,000 and above should not exceed INR50 per transaction. Similarly, for 

NEFT, the limits are INR5 for up to 100,000 and INR25 for 100,000 and above per transaction. 

3.3.4. The Rise of Electronic Payments 

The payment business in India is currently witnessing a phase of a rapid transition, enabled by the 

growing acceptance of electronic payment systems across various segments. A look at the electronic 

payments in India over the years reveals the growth in electronic payments in India both in terms of 

value as well as volume. 

Exhibit 14: Electronic payment trends 

Source: RBI 

The two subsequent charts illustrate how paper-based payments have fared vis-à-vis electronic 

payments in the recent past, in terms of transaction volume and transaction value. While paperbased 

payments, which are essentially payments made through cheques, still command a lion’s share 

in terms of volume, electronic payments overtook cheque payments in terms of value in 2006–07 

and command a larger share of the total payments pie today. The percentage of electronic 

transactions in terms of volume has also been growing y-o-y since 2006–07. 

However, the credit for the shift in transaction volumes toward electronic transactions goes to 

regulators. After RBI made it mandatory for banks to route high-ticket transfers through RTGS, 96% 

of the value of payments made electronically come through RTGS, while just about 1% of the 

electronic transactions are done through RTGS. 

Exhibit 15: Value breakup – cheque and electronic 

Exhibit 16: Volume breakup – cheque and electronic (Source RBI) 




If we consider the value for the paper-based transactions and the average daily value of electronic 

transactions, we can clearly see that the electronic transactions have been doing better that the 

traditional payment systems. Large banks and private banks are doing really well in the electronic 

transactions space. 

Exhibit 17: Average daily value of paper transactions (INR billion) 

Exhibit 18: Average daily value of electronic transactions (INR billion) 

Average daily transactions value for paper and electronic transactions for banks in India, 2011 

Upon having a close look at the percentage of electronic transactions, smaller banks are lagging 

behind the large and private banks in the overall percentage of electronic transactions. With the 

growing customer awareness and the increase in demand for electronic transactions, the trends 

indicate that even the small banks will start promoting electronic payments in an aggressive manner 

in the future. 




Exhibit 19: Percent of electronic transactions (value) 

3.3.5. Trends in Electronic Payments 

The paper-based systems categorized as a system-wide important payment system (SWIPS) still 

continue to dominate in terms of volume. However, its share has been declining both in volume and 

value terms in recent years. 

The RTGS system has been in operation in India since March 2004 and has been exhibiting rapid 

growth, not only in terms of volume and value of transactions, but also in the coverage of branches. 

During the year 2009–10, a total of 11,172 bank branches were added in the RTGS system, increasing 

the number of RTGS-enabled bank branches to 66,178. The efficiency of the RTGS system can be 

judged from the peak volume of RTGS transactions, which reached 248 thousand transactions on 30 

March 2010, as compared to the last year’s peak level of 128 thousand transactions on 29 March 

2009. 

NEFT (national electronic funds transfer) has been doing extremely well and the product is growing 

from strength to strength in terms of acceptability, reach and volumes handled. As at end-February 

2011, around 75,000 branches of the 100 banks participated in the NEFT system and the volume of 

transactions processed increased to 13.5 million in February 2011. 

The concept of speed clearing was introduced in 2008, leveraging on the core banking infrastructure 

of banks. It has now been made available as a part of the Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR), 

clearing at all the 66 MICR cheque processing centers (CPCs). This has reduced the time taken for the 

realization of proceeds of outstation cheques to T+2/3 days. 

The cheque truncation system (CTS), which involves the use of images for processing cheques in 

clearing, was introduced in the national capital region (NCR) of Delhi in 2008. It was meant to ensure 

the efficiency of cheque clearing as well as reduce the physical movement of cheques. With the 

complete migration of cheque volume to CTS, the MICR processing has been discontinued in the NCR 

and the CTS system now handles around 12% of the total cheque volume in the country. Currently, 

CTS is being rolled out at Chennai and it will soon be extended throughout the country. 




3.3.6. Electronification Approaches by Indian Banks 

Since the adoption of core banking systems by most banks, banks have started to focus on 

technology enablers in a broad spectrum of areas and electronification of payments is a major area in 

this direction. Banks have taken up the regulators initiatives seriously and have taken various steps to 

improve electronic channels to meet customer demands. 

3.3.7. Internet Banking 

Currently, internet banking has emerged as a major banking channel in India. Most of the large and 

medium banks now offer internet banking and funds transfer facilities. While the large banks have 

developed specific infrastructure to handle large value transactions, even the small banks operate 

through shared resources. The positive fact is that most of the electronic transactions are through 

STP (straight through processing) in the larger banks. This trend will result in enhanced service 

delivery and quick settlement. 

Banks are offering several value-added services through their electronic channels such as tax 

collections, trading, bill payments, and viewing demat accounts, etc. Certain services such as prepaid 

mobile recharge have become extremely popular among consumers. 

3.3.8. Upcoming Technology Architecture 

With the growth of the concept of payment hubs, the technology architecture for processing 

payments is going to change a lot. Banks are evaluating newer architectures such as payment hubs, 

which will act as the single point of routing for all payment transactions. 

3.3.9. Fraud and Security Aspects of Electronic Payments 

Considering the inherent risks involved and as an important step toward encouraging the transition 

to alternate efficient electronic payment systems viz. RTGS, NEFT, the Reserve Bank discontinued the 

separate high value clearing (HVC) (i.e., same-day clearing of local cheques of INR1 lakh and above), 

which was operational at 30 large centers across the country. The cheques of higher value can, 

however, continue to be presented in the normal MICR clearing. 

3.3.10. Emerging Payment Channels and Technologies 

The use of the electronic/online mode of payments for the purchase of goods and services and 

making payments to public utility companies is becoming increasingly popular. This involves 

intermediaries such as aggregators and payment gateway service providers handling customer funds. 

3.3.11. Real Time Gross Settlement System 

RBI is working toward the implementation of the next generation real time gross settlement (NG- 

RTGS) system. The Reserve Bank has initiated steps to enhance the capacity of the hardware system 

in the short term by rationalizing the use of resources during peak and non-peak periods and has also 

initiated the process of enhancing the capacity. Moreover, several new features are being envisaged 

in the proposed NG-RTGS system such as advanced liquidity management facility; extensible markup 

language (XML)-based messaging system conforming to ISO 20022; and real-time information and 

transaction monitoring and control system. 




3.3.12. Rise of Prepaid Instruments 

Banks have seen the opportunity served by prepaid in addressing the gap left between the debit and 

credit customer base. Over 14 non-banking corporate entities have been granted permissions to 

issue prepaid cards in card-based, paper-based and other electronic formats, including virtual/mobile 

wallets to date. One of India’s leading mobile operators has been granted permission with several 

others in the fray. 

3.3.13. New Credit Bureaus 

With two new credit bureaus being set up, in addition to the existing CIBIL, the quality and depth of 

the credit history and analysis is expected to grow multifold in the coming years, resulting in the 

enhanced quality of credit scoring and recoveries. The remarkable transformation has been the 

increased consumer awareness of the importance and impact of their credit histories. 

3.3.14. IMPS: Mobile-based Payment System 

NPCI has introduced the Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) enabling seamless mobile-based 

transfers between bank account holders. The cornerstone of interoperability has been established 

with this measure. 

The innovation spree continues with a wide array of breakthrough business models, consumer 

propositions and technology solutions being implemented, driving the adoption of electronic 

payments. 

3.3.15. Future Trends 

Changing customer preferences, mobile and internet penetration, rising cards, growth in disposable 

income and spend, as well as new technology initiatives have bolstered the payments landscape in 

India. It is evident that electronic payments will become increasingly popular as a delivery 

mechanism. However, there will always be customer segments, which will prefer to transact through 

a cheque or go to a branch to withdraw money. As such, banks will need to decide on the product 

strategy and create a mapping of their payment portfolio with their customer segments. Banks will 

need to increase their efforts in migrating customers from paper-based payments to electronic 

payments if they want to reap their benefits of cost advantages. However, this will require a 

fundamental change in consumer behavior, which can happen only if the banks and the regulator 

offer a secure, robust and efficient network, in addition to incentives in terms of convenience and 

benefits to customers. 

Business leaders of tomorrow would need to build on technologies foundations to deliver electronic 

payment systems. A robust architectural framework should be built by all banks to enable flexibility 

in gaining market share and increasing profitability from a more demanding customer base. Further, 

the technology framework needs to be developed, ensuring security to protect the reputation and 

support effective risk management. A framework that will reduce costs, bring about superior 

KYC/AML checks, help banks gauge customer behavior better and give an overall perspective on the 

profitability of their payments business would be most befitting. To achieve this, the increased 

acceptance of electronic payments by consumers across India is important. RBI has already extended 




a supporting hand to banks through the formation of the NPCI, for it will bring in a new focus on 

retail payments, which should also see the electronification that has been brought about by the 

introduction of RTGS in systemically important payment systems. 

3.4. CRM Initiatives 

The Indian banking industry has undergone a sea change in the past few years. With the rapid growth 

in the services industry across the economy, customers have been exposed to higher standards of 

service and customer orientation. Profitable customers have started demanding the same level of 

service and customer differentiation from their banks. Banks have therefore largely started 

dismantling the commoditized services of the past and are focusing their efforts on creating value for 

customers. The only mantra of success for any bank is to build lasting customer relationships. 

As measuring and valuing customer relationships has taken centre stage, CRM has become a 

comprehensive approach that aligns business strategy, corporate culture and structure, as well as 

supports information technology. 

It is clear that although CRM has been in India for a long time now, but its penetration, especially in 

the financial services market, has been rather uninspiring. It has tended to largely focus on things at 

an operational level, essentially "middle-office" offers such as branch automation, fraud detection, 

straight-through-processing and other internally-focused efficiency plays as opposed to more 

beneficial “front-office” plays. New-age banks have taken a clear lead in the front-office play. But the 

survey also reveals that old-age banks are playing catch-up in this area. 

Being a low-cost player and having great operational efficiencies is now a mandatory requirement for 

banks and can no longer be looked at as differentiators. The true differentiation will arise from the 

customer value garnered by each bank. The long-term valuation of a bank will therefore be gauged 

by its customer loyalty. Customer loyalty should be gauged by the penetration of products per 

customer. This higher penetration is possible only when banks have a robust CRM system running 

across the entire organization seamlessly across channels providing customers with the right product 

at the right time through the right channel. 

The survey highlighted all the initiatives that banks are taking in this space and their individual level 

of preparedness for customer wars ahead. The survey also threw up some interesting, but widely 

held beliefs: There is a large standard deviation among banks in their CRM capabilities. All new-age 

banks do not have the same level of CRM maturity. In fact, there are some public sector banks, which 

will soon leapfrog over some private sector banks in the CRM race, provided public sector banks 

implement all their plans. The other trend at the leading banks witnessed is the focus on customer 

education and grievance redressal and a seamless integration of all channels. Meanwhile, banks have 

launched a host of new channels for customers. These channels have brought ease to customers at 

one level, but have also increased the challenge of providing a common experience to customers. 

Banks have all rolled out these channels, but are still struggling with migrating customers on to these 

alternate channels. A few banks have used their CRM capabilities well in this space to reveal a higher 

degree of channel usage by their customers. 




3.4.1. Customer Education 

Banks have understood that educating the customer makes good business sense. There are two 

levels of education — products and practices. Product education is targeted toward increasing usage 

and the practices education is targeted at gaining customer confidence around systems and 

processes employed at banks. We have seen a high degree of education linked around securityrelated 

features at the banks, which is their way of emboldening customers to access the bank 

through lower-cost alternate channels. Banks have also started viewing customer education as a 

means of building an image of leadership. Banks that view themselves as leaders are spending more 

on customer education in non-product-related features. This is positively viewed by customers as 

there is no hard-sell involved. 

Currently, banks are using various channels such as email, SMS, online platform, IVR and unutilized 

space on the reverse of the statement of accounts and customer awareness screens in ATMs and the 

print media to reach out to customers. Leading banks are using their analytic capabilities to target 

the right level and relevant communication to the right customers. 

Most public sector banks organize customer meets with their leading customers. A few of them also 

educate customers about new products and interest rates through SMS and mailers. However, their 

ability to educate a large portion of customers is hampered by their customer data quality in terms of 

contactability. A few of these banks have now embarked on a data cleansing exercise to address this 

problem. Private sector banks have taken the lead here in educating customers regularly on topics 

such as safe banking, phishing and responsible debt. One particular example is of a bank 

implementing enhanced ATMs with “ATM Next” application, which provides extra services, including 

educating customers on bank products. 

3.4.2. Grievance Handling 

With the increased activism of customers and media, banks will have to take a particular focus on 

their grievance-handling mechanisms. Banks manage billions of transactions annually. But even with 

great processes, there will still be a few thousand transactions that do not deliver in sync with the 

customer’s expectations. These service failures may be viewed as opportunities — opportunities to 

convert these customers into the bank’s promoters post prompt redressal. In our survey, we have 

seen that most banks have taken steps to make it easy for customers to lodge their complaint 

through 24x7 call centers, email ids published on the website and branch walk-ins. Some banks have 

also set up segment-wise grievance redressal desks. But the true opportunity lies post this. All banks 

will have to pay closer attention to this area and build better systems to track and resolve customer 

complaints. 

3.4.3. Customer Service Delivery Channels 

CRM initiatives, being the forefront of customer touch-points, play a major role in creating a positive 

perception of the bank by providing the best possible customer experience. All banks have taken 

steps from better and faster grievance handling to providing new channels to educating. 




While some private banks have started monitoring individual consumer activity and making the right 

offer at the right time using CRM analytics, others have started providing differentiated services to 

make customers feel special and therefore gain their loyalty. Offering the most relevant products at 

the right time ensures customer retention and increases customer profitably. 

We observed that while all banks had the basic necessities in terms of toll free numbers, IVR facilities 

and call centers, some banks also implemented strategies such as enhanced ATMs, online chat and 

automatic call distribution and the skill-based routing of calls (diverting calls to relevant personnel 

based on customer requirements) to improve customer experience. Large private sector banks with 

service-oriented CRM and an end-to-end tracking system seem to be ahead of others in having CRM 

initiatives actually implemented. However, CRM still lacks the cohesiveness and problem-solving 

power that it should address. 

3.4.4. Cross-channel Integration 

We have seen that channel strategies were implemented and managed in an uncoordinated fashion, 

which led to sub-optimal resource allocation and poor customer management. Leading banks have 

now realized this problem and are addressing this aggressively. As banks have become multi-product 

as well as multi-channel, cross-channel integration insulates customers from internal machinations 

and presents them with a 360-degree view of the organization. In addition, it provides complete 

visibility of customer activity rather than a partial visibility of individual channels, enabling a 

comprehensive influence of purchase decisions. 

Banks are now focusing on developing, implementing and integrating their channels more rapidly 

and efficiently to provide consistent service and get increased revenues through the adoption of new 

products as well as improve profitability through lower product development and service costs. More 

forward looking banks are simultaneously deploying integrated CRM strategies to improve customer 

service quality and profitability. 

3.4.5. Analytics becoming the Dominant Technology 

Business analytics that used to be the game play for consumer goods companies have now made 

their need felt in banking as well. We have seen that the banking industry has started relying on 

more sophisticated segmentation techniques to reach out to relevant customers. The importance has 

changed from the difference in banking products to who is targeted and how is a customer targeted. 

What we are seeing is the gradual depletion of product marketing, which has given way to customer 

segment marketing. 

Since a “one-size-fits-all” customer strategy no longer seems to work, banks have started catering to 

the needs of rapidly changing markets. A couple of private lenders have a large CRM team in place at 

the enterprise level and have a robust model of data collection from its customer relationship 

systems to understand customer behavior and his/her needs through various channels of 

engagement. These insights are then used to run campaigns on specific sets of customers. 




3.4.6. Increase in Cross-sales 

Banks have utilized data that they have from CRM solutions to improve their cross-selling programs, 

which range from identifying target segments to marketing new products. In terms of conversion, we 

see an average of 12% conversion rates from the customers pursued. While some banks have made 

these initiatives a part of their overall strategy, some others have taken many item-level benefits 

such as the introduction and selling of new specialized services to HNI/Priority clients as well as the 

launch of segment-based CASA products. 

3.4.7. CRM for Innovation 

While some banks use CRM primarily for middle/back office systems improvement, including areas of 

sales force automation, customer service and marketing campaigns management, there are others 

who have tried product innovation. Having a greater understanding of customers enables banks to 

introduce new products, which would cater to the needs of customers in a better way. Few banks, if 

any, have used customer feedback to create a new product or service. 

3.4.8. The Future — CRM 2.0 

The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies has facilitated CRM 2.0 as the next step in this journey. It is 

a philosophy and business strategy supported by technology and processes to engage customers in a 

collaborative interaction that provides mutually beneficial value in a transparent business 

environment. Banks now see customers as partners in the development and improvement of 

products, services as well as the company-customer relationship. 

As traditional CRM is being practiced and put in place, it is imperative for most banks capturing all 

the data about the customer to give a 360 degree view. The bank is a consumer of all this data 

created and uses an analytics layer, if at all, on top of this data to run marketing campaigns on 

customer segments. With the advent of social media, traditional CRM was no longer able to keep 

pace with customer demands. Earlier an unhappy customer shared his angst with 10 people around 

him through word of mouth. Now he just posts it on Facebook and reaches out to a few thousand 

with a click. And the customer knows this! CRM 2.0 or social media CRM is therefore the next 

frontier, which all banks have to reach to keep pace with the changing environment. India currently 

has 100 million broadband users and this number is expected to reach 200 million by 2015. These 

broadband users are also extremely active on social networks. India also has more than 700 million 

mobile users and, with the digital convergence in full swing, mobile will be the preferred gateway to 

the internet. Therefore, CRM 2.0 has immense strategic implications for all banks. Banks will need to 

start monitoring external networks. Just tweeting and blogging will no longer be enough. In banks 

with CRM platforms, we have seen most of the banks viewing CRM platforms as lead management 

systems. The high level of integration where the system has a view of each transaction, service 

query, product and behavior of the customer is still a rarity with only a couple of banks being at that 

level. Compared to the current methods of having a single view of customers across channels, the 

insights from CRM 2.0 methods are based on the personal profile of customers; social characteristics 

associated with them as well as from customer participation, and are therefore more dynamic. 




CRM 2.0 will focus on collaboration with customers and customer groups. Some banks have started 

taking baby steps in this direction by starting their Facebook pages. Just creating a page will not 

suffice. A symbiotic interaction needs to happen wherein the customer plays a role in assisting the 

bank in improving its products and services and the customer in turn is rewarded by the bank. Net 

promoter scores will retain their influence, but will be fused with richer metrics to truly gauge 

customer advocacy. CRM 2.0 also focuses more on customer access and privacy. Customers will be 

able to decide what products and services they are fine with being pitched by the bank — no longer a 

blanket yes or no. Sales processes will undergo a sea change with CRM 2.0. The bank will have to be 

good at social network management and be present at the social networks where their clients are. 

Banks will need to institute systems of tracking connections and activity in the external world, which 

are seamlessly in sync with the existing internal sales workflows. Sales measurement metrics will 

need to undergo changes to compensate for the new way consumers will interact and buy from 

banks. Sales productivity tools will have to be enhanced to allow better and online access to clientrelated 

data across various platforms. 

The old adage of “catch them young and keep them for life” is still true. With the average age of the 

active social networker being in the twenties, it is imperative that banks have a well thought-out 

strategy for rolling out CRM 2.0. Banks that have not embarked fully on the traditional CRM may well 

use this opportunity to leapfrog by implementing CRM 2.0 strategies. 

3.5. IT Implementation and Management 

Over the past few years, the Indian banking and financial services industry has seen transformational 

changes in how banks are being run from the technological perspective. The implementation of the 

core banking solution (CBS), in accordance with the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India, has now 

been implemented or in the advanced stages of being implantation in most large public sector as 

well as private sector banks in India. According to the latest guideline issued by the Reserve Bank of 

India, it has become mandatory for all regional rural banks to be made CBS-compliant by the 30 

September 2011 deadline. 

The following sections of the report have been prepared to understand various aspects of IT 

implementation and management that banks have used in running their internal IT department at 

the bank level, which includes the current trend and any emerging trends in the banking technology 

space. 

3.5.1. IT Strategy Alignment with Business Alignment 

In most large nationalized banks, whether private or public sector, there is a strong emphasis on 

aligning the IT strategy of the bank with its business goals. The senior management of the bank 

supports and maintains a culture where business verticals are ready to shift and accept changes 

brought in by new IT systems and processes, which impacts the operational and technological 

environment of the bank. 

Some of the measures that banks have implemented are: 

The IT strategy of the bank or an IT vision document is typically approved by the board, 

which serves as a roadmap to the future implementation of IT within the bank. 




The IT committee of the board constitutes the senior management of the bank at the board 

level to ensure and review IT strategic goals on a periodic basis. The committee is also 

responsible for the approval of the IT budgets and prioritization of projects within the scope 

of IT. This group acts as a bridge between the IT and business teams and ensures that 

business objectives are planned and implemented to drive the bank’s vision over the long 

haul. 

Large nationalized banks have also implemented a layer of the Project Steering Committee 

for critical strategic initiatives or large projects where senior executives record the progress 

at pre-defined intervals — monthly or quarterly. 

In public sector banks, it has also been observed that various verticals are created to support 

business groups at various levels to implement IT initiatives. A strategic planning process 

group co-ordinates the alignment of business objectives with IT objectives. 

3.5.2. IT Organization Structure 

It has also been noted that some of the large public and private sectors banks have made significant 

investment in attracting, retaining and nurturing their IT staff members. The teams have been varied 

in terms of the size and complexity of its structure according to the requirements of the bank, 

number of initiatives and level of outsourcing that has been implemented in the bank. 

Most large banks have reported that they have separate streams or verticals to manage their IT in 

some form or the other, such as technology solutions, infrastructure management, systems 

management and IT information security, among others. The primary responsibility of these groups is 

to manage their individual areas in terms of delivery, ensure compliance to the IT policies of the bank 

and drive the innovation or business programs that the IT committee of the bank proposes. 

We have also observed that some of the banks have the business technology layer, which acts and 

co-ordinates the initiative between the business and technology group within their bank’s 

environment. 

3.5.3. IT Infrastructure Physical Environment 

Since the growth of financial services in India has been significant in the past few years, most large 

banks have ensured that their current IT set up is not only capable of handling the current level of 

customers and their associated volumes, but are also well equipped to ensure a similar level of 

service for the future growth and services in line with their business goals. 

The leading banks of the country have ensured state-of-the-art data center facilities for their DC and 

DRC, maintaining a 2/3 security compliance level and ISO 27001 certification. Banks have also 

ensured zero data loss with the implementation of the near site, considering the RPO (recovery point 

objective) and RTO (recovery time objective) for critical applications. 

These data centers have been housed in different seismic zones to ensure data security in Force 

Majeure situations such as earthquakes, floods and fire. The replication of data between the data 

centers has been done using redundant network links from different service providers. 

The security environment of the data center has been ensured at the physical level and operational 

level by the installation of firewalls, network-based intrusion prevention system (NIPS) and hostbased 

intrusion prevention system (HIPS) as well as the installation of anti-spam and anti-virus 




solutions from industry leaders. The installation of devices such as CCTV cameras, finger printer 

readers and scanners ensures physical security and prevents intrusion. 

The consistent improvement in IT is another theme that has emerged not only to keep pace with 

organizational priorities, but also to pro-actively build capacity over the next three to five years. 

3.5.4. Organizational Mechanism and Processes for Strategy Implementation 

Banks today recognize information technology (IT) as a key strategic function to enable an 

institution’s business vision, as the boards of these banks believe that the appropriate use of IT can 

substantially improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the business. 

To achieve the management’s objective, we have observed that the IT department of banks works 

closely with business operations to create effective mechanisms and processes. These processes 

include the implementation of the IT governance, risk and compliance (GRC) framework based on 

best industry practices in addition to driving standardizations with the COBIT, ITIL, ISO20000 and 

ISO27000 framework. They have also ensured compliance with the regulatory requirements of RBI, 

CVC and SEC [SOX compliance], to name a few. 

The bank’s IT strategy committee or steering committee provides direction to the bank’s IT 

department and has laid down a roadmap to further drive the IT strategy at a senior management 

level. Banks also ensure that the information security audit of the critical systems and applications 

are done by qualified external auditors appointed by the bank’s IT team. 

We have also noted that an individual at the GM or DGM level in banks is assigned to monitor the 

progress of critical initiatives and report to the steering committee on a monthly basis. 

3.5.5. IT as Strategic Enabler to Reduce Costs or Increase Revenues 

Several banks use IT to automate their key business and operations and help reduce operational 

costs. Revenues are largely increased with the introduction of more channels such as ATMs, internet 

banking or mobile banking to bring more customers or to retain existing customers by offering 

convenience to banks on a 24x7 basis. Banks have also placed a strong emphasis on IT to improve 

customer service, security, efficiency and competitiveness of the business. 

Some of the initiatives to reduce costs or increase revenues that the banks have implemented 

include consolidation of data centers and servers, virtualization, network bandwidth management 

tool, installation of solid state hard disks or implementation of advanced data replication tools. 

The proactive monitoring of the infrastructure and applications has also helped banks reduce costs 

and improve customer service. Infrastructure monitoring helps to reduce the potential downtime 

and cost of servicing. The implementation of dashboards for various applications helps the senior 

management to monitor the status of applications on a real-time basis. 

e-Procurement or reverse auction has also helped the bank’s IT team to reduce their procurementrelated 

expenditure. 




3.5.6. Backup and Disaster Management Plan 

The DR site at banks is vital for recovery in a disaster situation. Banks have set up their DR for all their 

critical applications and replication of data on a periodic or a real-time basis to ensure quick recovery 

in an adverse scenario. Banks also conduct the DR mock drill once in a quarter for all critical 

applications and servers to be well equipped to respond in the face of a real exigency. 

Banks have also implemented a centralized backup solution for the back-up of critical applications. 

An everyday backup on the SAN storage and back-up tapes and stored in fire proof cabinets in an offsite 

location would ensure data survival in case of a disaster. A business continuity plan includes 

availability of people, processes and technology. There are packages available in the market, which 

some of the banks have implemented to take care of their business continuity plan that includes 

automated disaster recovery management solutions. 

3.5.7. Energy Management 

All banks have introduced measures in some form or the other to conserve or save energy in their 

operating environment. Some of the measures that banks have introduced are: 

Consolidation of datacenters 

Green data centers with active tile design, cold aisle concealment, real-time monitoring, 

sensor-based lighting controls and optimized cooling systems 

Virtualization of servers and desktops 

Adoption of blade server technology 

Upgradation of older servers, storage and networking component 

Dynamic power capping of servers 

Cloud computing to reduce consumption 

CFL lighting or LED lights 

Precision ACs 

Solar-powered ATMs 

Paper less banking 

Use of thin clients 

3.5.8. Measurement of IT Performance 

The measurement of IT performance is done by using various parameters such as availability of 

critical systems, execution of IT budgets, project implementation, capacity planning and expansions. 

Steering committee meetings and IT committees of the bank conduct meetings at a monthly interval 

to ensure that the project progresses is monitored and tracked by the top management of the bank. 

Quarterly updates are sent to the board on the performance of the projects with respect to timeline, 

critical milestones, budget and resource planning. 

The monthly reports of the bank highlight uptime of the systems, SLA report, incident and problem 

resolution, service desk report as well as network uptime report, which are sent to the project 

steering committees for effective monitoring and control. 




Dashboards are generated for the senior management review to monitor the health of the systems 

at various levels such as availability of the systems, infrastructure and report on a number of 

incidents or events that have been generated. 

3.5.9. IT as a ”Value” Creator 

Value can be attributed in terms of tangible and intangible benefits. Tangible benefits are evaluated 

based on the comparison between return on investment (ROI) calculation versus the total cost of 

ownership (TCO). Tangible benefits sometimes outweigh intangible benefits that the project 

generates. Intangible benefits can be accrued in terms of customer convenience, brand creation, 

increased operational efficiency, compliance, improved skills sets of the employees and better 

decision making to generate a unified view of customers. 

3.5.10. IT Risk Management Policy 

The objective of the IT risk management policy is to ensure that IT risks are identified, assessed and 

managed for infrastructure and applications within the operating environment of the bank. Banks 

have an IT risk management policy approved by the board, which is regularly reviewed and updated, 

considering the changing technology landscape within and outside the bank. 

The policy is applicable to all personnel and/or process related to IT applications, IT infrastructure, IT 

services, vendors and documents for the applicable bank locations in scope. The risk management 

policy document encompasses all aspects such as physical/logical security, encryption, remote 

access, intranet/internet, password and network security. The risk management framework includes 

risk assessment, risk reporting, risk treatment and residual risk monitoring. 

3.5.11. Management of IT Resources 

IT resources can be classified further into applications, infrastructure-related technologies, 

operational technologies and people, to name a few. Banks have incorporated the same to reflect 

the vision and mission statement. 

Various banks have recognized the need for better IT governance and have developed a set of IT 

policies and associated procedures using control objectives for information and related technology 

(COBIT) as the base framework, meshed with standards such as the Information Technology 

Infrastructure Library (ITIL), ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 and have aligned it to various regulatory 

requirements that banks need to comply with, including RBI and SEC (SOX). 

The IT policies of the banks are applicable to all personnel and/or processes, which are used for the 

management of the lifecycle of IT assets, including applications and infrastructure that are managed 

by the IT teams of banks. 

On the people front, the HR frameworks of various banks ensure that people are equipped with the 

required skill set to perform their jobs. Banks make a significant effort to ensure that the right person 

has been put into the right job by organizing training programs to keep people up to date in terms of 

the skills required for the job they are performing. 




3.6. IT for Internal Effectiveness 

IT is an important lever in improving internal organization effectiveness and not just delivering 

customer benefits. In fact, a misalignment will result in deficiency in delivering customer benefits. 

These two factors play a vital role, namely knowledge management and internal process 

effectiveness, to reduce TAT in service delivery. 

Most of the banks have implemented online training systems and knowledge management 

methodologies. Building human capital and capabilities is of utmost importance in the service sector 

to maintain a competitive edge. One of the large private sector banks has also implemented an ”m- 

Learning” solution, which provides audio nuggets on topics such as credit awareness, current 

economics and operations risk management. 

Workflow automation and BPR efforts to improve internal process efficiency are helping banks 

toward more effective utilization of IT resources. The various areas of implementation include: 

Data collection package for the various Bancassurance products of the bank 

Centralized web-based inspection information system made available for inspection centers 

and the Head Office 

Claiming reimbursement of FIT (Funds in transit) ATM cash through RACS (Reconciliation 

accounting and cash settlement) 

Review and renewal of structured loan products 

Automated solution to move accounts under subvention products to non-subvention 

products on the specified date (subvention end date) 

Input data entry screen provided to the branches to enter data related to the ATM access 

lock functioning, ATM door functioning, UPS functioning, ATM security-related issues and 

ATM ventilation availability to enable both CO/HO for effective monitoring 

Online tax accounting system (OLTAS), electronic accounting system in excise and service tax 

(EASIEST) implemented in all designated branches 

Integrated treasury software for domestic and forex treasury operations implemented 

HRM software to automate HR-related activities implemented; centralized processing of 

salary, pension, deposit processing, clearing operations for both inward and outward clearing 

Automated performance appraisal systems 

Most banks are trying to reduce the use of paper. Therefore, in order to have a paperless office, 

various activities that were earlier done manually are now online. This has resulted in the easy 

retrieval of data, including scanned documents. Many banks have implemented a document 

management system (DMS) to facilitate a faster flow of documents and information internally. 

Documents are scanned using the Omni scan and images are stored in the remote image server (RIS) 

available locally in the respective regional back offices to enable faster loading of the image of the 

account opening form. The data entry is done from these images, which are stored in the RIS server. 

Therefore, the turnaround time is reduced considerably. The automated cheque processing solution 

is implemented wherein cheque images are captured and used for data entry, verification and 

passing. The minimal data entered in Finacle at the branch level for account opening is auto 

populated through a cron job in Omniflow at regional back offices (RBOs). The authenticity is ensured 

as there is no manual intervention in data transfer from branches to RBOs, i.e., from Finacle to 




Omniflow. Moreover, on scanning the Account opening forms, a tif file is generated and the data is 

entered from images that are populated from this tif file. The bank has implemented Netcast 

products to provide various reports and documents generated from various systems centrally for 

branches/offices. Data warehouse and the enterprise wide general ledger system provide various 

reports to administrative offices. 

3.7. Managing IT Risk 

In the last couple of years, the financial services sector has experienced a global downturn, followed 

by inevitable rationalization with organizations thereafter gearing up their business for growth. 

Organizations had to work back and realign their operating models to address the growing demands 

for a cost-conscious operating model and make sourcing decisions on the basis of organized and preestablished 

priorities. As technology continued to gain importance and became a key driver to 

achieve business targets, the investment decisions in the same started being looked upon more from 

a strategic intent, than as traditional capex/opex outflows. 

The business demands from IT functions have evolved over the last few decades. From being just a 

“supporter” initially, IT has evolved to be a “protector” and “enhancer” of business. The importance 

and pervasiveness of IT is on the rise. IT is now widely recognized as an important driver of enterprise 

strategy. Business and IT are expected to work together to capitalize on market opportunities to 

realize business aspirations. These opportunities are time-sensitive and, more often than not, 

technology departments do not have enough time for developing internal capacities and capabilities. 

It is difficult to imagine any financial services organization being effective today without the benefit 

of IT systems. IT is the foundation on which many enterprises run, and its successful design and 

implementation, have a profound effect on business performance. 

Risks have a close association with all businesses. These risks are particularly significant when it 

comes to financial services business. Over time, we have seen risks being better managed by the 

development and use of information technology. 

Information technology can be effectively used as a tool to provide internal effectiveness and 

business risk management. The tools to manage information technology risks are as follows: 

3.7.1. IT Risk Management Framework 

Firms are expected to have a detailed IT risk management framework along with the policies and 

procedures detailing IT risk management. Banks typically design their governance, risk and 

compliance [GRC] framework based on best practices under different IT frameworks and standards 

such as CoBIT [Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology], ITIL, ISO20000, ISO27001 

and other regulatory requirements such as RBI and SEC (SOX). The framework is governed by various 

committees, information security, information security risk management, IT strategy, IT steering and 

business continuity, which provide direction and value creation from IT-enabled investment. There 

are certifications such as ISO27001 certification for data centers, which can be received to certify 

security levels. 




Exhibit 20: IT risk management framework 

Exhibit 21: Managing IT risk 

An analysis of the scores indicates that smaller banks are lagging behind the curve. While larger 

banks have extensive IT risks management policies in place, smaller banks need to step up their 

efforts toward internal awareness measures, data centers and software risk management policies. 

3.7.2. Policies and Procedures 

Most banks have risk management policies and procedures approved by the board. The IT risk 

management policy ensures that IT risks are identified, assessed and managed for infrastructure and 

applications within the production environment. The scope of IT risk management policy covers all 




the IT assets. The policy coverage extends to all personnel and/or processes related to IT 

applications, IT infrastructure, IT services and documents. 

3.7.3. Managing IT Hardware Risks 

Banks have policies such as asset life cycle management policy (ALCM), physical security policy, 

minimum baseline security standard (MBSS), SLA and AMC with hardware suppliers, capacity 

management policy, DR/BCP policy and risk management policy, which collectively take care of the 

mitigation of all hardware risks. The asset life cycle management (ALCM) procedure is to manage the 

security and risks of all assets with users at banks such as software and hardware, as well as covers 

processes to be followed from the procurement to the disposal of hardware assets. 

Banks have implemented a centralized backup solution and have a robust backup infrastructure to 

support critical data and applications. There is a provision to take daily backups and a copy of the 

same may be sent to the offsite location, in case of primary site disasters. The backup tape is shipped 

to the DR/Standby site where data can be restored. 

A disaster recovery (DR)/business continuity planning center needs to be built to take care of one or 

more application failure at the primary data center and: 

Provide a comprehensive user-agnostic DR solution for each mission critical application of 

the bank 

Successful partial disaster simulation of three or more applications with their multiple 

interfaces continue to be operational from the production site 

Full disaster simulation at a network level 

Most banks have certifications such as BS 25999 and ISO 27001 to validate their compliance to BCP 

and DR. 

The data centers need to be secured by the physical security perimeter, which may be supported by 

CCTV cameras, security guards, bullet proof doors, separate physical access cards and biometric 

devices, fire alarms and fire extinguishers. Authorized vendors can carry out preventive maintenance 

on a periodic basis to ensure availability on a consistent basis. 

3.7.4. Managing IT Software Risks: 

The bank’s IT policies and related processes and procedures such as change management, 

application security standard, release management, service level agreements and asset management 

charges with vendors, suppliers relationship management, IT risk management and license 

management process guard the bank from all software-related risks focusing on software assets, 

including licenses, versions and installed endpoints. Any software before installation goes through 

System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) phases, to check the relationship between threat agent, 

probability and the impact on business. The high and continuous availability of operating systems, 

databases and applications is ensured through the installation of updated anti-virus software, 

firmware versions, patching of servers and security devices. All the foregoing activities help banks to 

contain IT software risks. For any new application or system enhancements, the security should be 

incorporated since inception. Applications should be monitored and patched for technical 




vulnerabilities. Auditing, logging and monitoring are additional activities, which need to be 

undertaken strictly in accordance with stipulated IT policies to ensure the effective management of IT 

software risks. 

PCs/workstations provided to the staff/users of the bank should have preloaded standard tested and 

licensed software. Users need to be instructed to refrain from installing any unauthorized/unlicensed 

software on their PCs/machines for any official or personal use. These software applications are also 

known as freeware or sharewares and contain malicious programs such as Trojan resulting in the 

corruption of system data or relay user confidential information to a hacker on the internet without 

user knowledge. If these are virus-infected software applications, then they endanger the other 

systems in a bank’s network. This software also utilizes system resources such as memory and 

processing power, which could affect or slow down a user system and hamper routine business 

activity. User access management can be practiced rigorously, by providing authentication only to 

authorized users in the bank’s network through active directory. 

Banks can implement sophisticated tools such as the Desktop and Server Management [DSM] to 

probe the software installed in the IT system to avoid any license-related legal risk. 

3.7.5. Access Controls and Authentications 

Banks are responsible to maintain confidentiality, integrity and availability of data regardless of the 

form — electronic, print or other media and instill confidence and reassurance to their customers 

that their accounts are being monitored very closely and effectively. Banks should commit to protect 

their customers’ information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or 

destruction. They can take several steps to ensure that customer information is fully protected such 

as putting in place necessary control mechanisms involving hardware, software and physical security 

to ensure secure processing and storage of data. 

3.7.6. Physical Access 

Banks have a well-defined physical and environmental security procedure aligned to their risk 

management objective. The procedures define a detailed process to be followed for perimeter 

security, zone level security, access provisioning, monitoring and baselines for environmental 

controls such as fire safety, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). 

Physical access controls need to be implemented such that the access to the official premises is 

provided to authorize personnel only. In case of a change in access requirement or new access 

requirement, necessary approvals should be arranged. Physical access controls should be reviewed 

periodically and the results of the review may be shared with the bank’s CISO (Chief Information 

Security Officer). 

Employees, visitors and contractors are instructed to wear the ID card issued to them throughout the 

time they are in the bank’s premises. ID cards are configured for access to approved areas only and 

are provided to the employee or regular visitors. Any lost/misplaced access cards should be reported 

immediately to the physical security supervisor for the revocation of the access privileges associated 

with the lost/misplaced card. 




3.7.7. Physical System Access 

Users are advised and cautioned against sharing their systems with other users who are not 

authorized by the bank or who have no business requirement to access the banks’ systems, 

especially the external entities. This may result in the loss, damage or theft of the information assets 

(hardware and software) of the bank. Users should take adequate precautions that their systems are 

sufficiently protected from water and dust sources that could damage the system. Storage media is 

kept away from sunlight and dust and is beyond the reach of third-parties such as visitors or 

contractors, which may result in the loss of some confidential information such as customer data. 

The physical security controls of banks at various locations are reviewed on a periodic basis. Physical 

access controls should be implemented to provide entry within premises only on a need basis to 

authorized personnel. Physical access should be given only with due approval from the reporting 

manager of the employee. Further, a separate approval from the datacenters may also be required; 

this follows a very stringent process for all locations of bank where servers are hosted; the logs (CCTV 

and manual entry) should be reviewed on a periodic basis. 

Apart from the entry and exit of employees and visitors (in and out of the bank’s premises) should be 

logged either manually or through automated mechanism. For regular visitors such as contractors / 

consultants / auditors who need to be provided temporary access cards the separate process should 

be followed where in the request has to be approved by the authorized person / Head. The access of 

resigned employees should be disabled immediately once the list is published from HR. For Non 

regular visitors the visitor should be required to sign and mention details. Physical security of offsite 

equipments like EPABX, faxes and printers should be placed in a secured area. Access given should be 

restricted to ensure that no visitor can gain access without notice of Bank’s employees. 

3.7.8. Logical Access 

The information security policy (ISP) and global user access management (GUAM) policy together 

govern logical access controls at various levels. Banks deploy various controls such as system 

lockdown, password policies and restrictions on internet access through URL filtering and 

monitoring, data loss prevention tools and active directory policy. 

To ensure that only authorized users access bank systems, every user should be provided a user id 

and corresponding password to access systems and the user should be held accountable for all 

activities originating from his account. Users can protect their passwords by following the password 

usage policy. Users should not share their files and directories with other users on the bank’s 

network. This is because shares can be exploited by viruses and can infect other PCs over the 

network. Users can justifiably raise a business case to install a file server for their department to 

share files. 

3.7.9. People risks to IT in terms of Security, Awareness and Availability 

Banks should focus on the development of a comprehensive awareness strategy to augment 

technology and process controls. This is with a view to bring about a behavioral change, rather than 

just to educate employees about what the desired behavior should be. Focused efforts from the 

senior management help in focusing on changing attitudes and encouraging a security-minded 




culture. This endeavor motivates banks’ employees to keep themselves informed of information 

security risks and remediate them in a timely manner for their respective units. Here is a list of our 

key awareness initiatives: 

There is a theme-based approach to spread awareness on the importance of security. 

The security policy can be broken into simple and understandable points. 

Posters are a means of passive re-iteration and various touch points in a bank. Simple 

themed posters can carry IT security messages illustrated in the form of interesting images. 

Videos and films can emphasize on good and bad security behavior and convey that banks 

stand in a “dos and dont’s” format using animated characters. 

A mandatory on-line e-learning course can cover the key elements of the information 

security policy of banks and can be attached with an online certification course for the 

completion of the course. 

There are online quizzes to spread awareness. 

Employees who do not comply with the bank’s policy should be given warning memos and 

should be asked to leave through the HR process in case of serious issues. 

A full-time awareness manager may be appointed to raise awareness levels and provide appropriate 

training so that employees can protect their confidential electronic information; understand risks 

when using and storing electronic information; reduce risks to the confidentiality, integrity and 

availability of confidential electronic information and understand the roles and responsibilities for 

the protection of information and systems. 

Through training, reward programs and global awareness, banks can take a constructive and 

proactive approach to security, which is making a positive difference for their business. Securitypositive 

behavior should be encouraged by making attendance at the security awareness training 

mandatory, publicizing security successes and failures throughout the organization, and linking 

security to personal performance objectives/appraisals. 

3.7.10. IT Support 

Adopting newer technologies for application implementation, enhancements or improvements, 

which result in a satisfactory response to customer needs, has become the driving force for the IT 

team within banks. Banks should have adequately sized teams in terms of manpower with 

appropriate skill sets and capabilities to cater to current and future IT initiatives. 

3.7.11. Outsourcing of IT 

Banks should develop a policy on outsourcing, based on the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of 

India (RBI). All the business and support functions of the bank are mandated to adhere to this 

outsourcing policy. 

As a part of the policy, banks should maintain a complete list of all service providers with whom the 

bank engages to perform its business. These service providers are subjected to a review based on the 

materiality of outsourcing. 




The Information Security Group should develop a comprehensive checklist of information security 

controls, which each of the material service providers are expected to comply with. This is reviewed 

and any actions coming from there are tracked till closure. 

Some of these reviews should also include on-site assessment by the information security risk 

managers. These reviews should also form the basis of taking a decision of whether to get into a 

partnership with these service providers. 

As a part of PCI-DSS compliance, banks may ensure that all the service providers they deal with are 

compliant to the PCI-DSS standard and they have achieved their certification. 

While dealing with outsourced agencies, banks should ensure the following: 

There are pre-defined service level agreements (SLAs) with outsourced partners. 

For proactive and effective monitoring, IT systems are configured to provide regular 

automated alerts with an escalation mechanism of the outsourced staff. 

The monitoring aids in providing timely and acute resolution of issues. 

Periodic meetings are conducted to resolve any operational issues challenges with 

vendors/outsourced partners who provide various services. 

The vendor evaluation process is an ongoing process to gauge the vendor output. 

In case any violation is detected, the bank takes appropriate management action against 

them. 

3.8. IT for business innovation 

Information technology (IT) has become “mission-critical” for many organizations. In today’s business 

environment, IT is a fundamental and growing component of day-to-day business operations and 

represents a significant area of investment for many companies. Technology can be a competitive 

advantage or a marketplace disadvantage. In recent years, the role of IT has been changing and, in 

some cases, radically. Rather than being seen merely as a utility, the function is increasingly expected 

to come up with innovative business improvements. Post-recession, organizations inhabit a very 

different global economy and IT has a vital part to play in supporting change and growth. With 

competition increasingly being shaped by a number of macroeconomic factors, IT leaders have to 

understand the dynamics of this “new normal” and work closely with the business to address the 

challenges. 

The emergence of personal laptop computers, smart phones, enterprise resource planning (ERP) 

systems, the growth of the internet, global sourcing and commerce, coupled with increasing threats 

to information security and the privacy of customer data, have made IT a core competency and 

strategic focus area for many companies. And the executives interested in IT are not just the CIO and 

the IT Director; CEOs, CFOs, COOs, as well as other C-level executives, business unit (BU) leaders and 

audit committee and board members are more concerned about IT than ever before. And they are 

not only concerned about IT risks, but also about the performance of the IT function. 

Organizations are realizing the importance of having strategic IT roadmaps. While businesses have 

realized the importance of IT and the need for investments thereof; the question that arises now is 

that can they restructure their business to increase the level of flexibility and adaptability to market 

conditions? Where and how can they cut costs? How can we focus on core competencies? Can we 




source non-core work from outside? What are the models available? Which one suits me the best? 

How can I source from outside and still have control? What are the risks involved? Business leaders 

expect business restructuring to play an increased role in their company’s activities over the coming 

years and for many organizations, the IT function is clearly targeted as a priority. 

Business and IT leaders must balance their vision for how IT can add value to the enterprise, while 

addressing concerns such as levels of IT service and support, program delivery and other 

fundamental operational needs. Many organizations need to counter significant challenges to: 

Align IT strategy, investment and efforts with the business strategy 

Provide IT enablement for key business process and major transformations (e.g., supply 

chain, finance, customer) 

Increase the overall return on IT investments 

Reduce the cost and effort required for IT to maintain required levels of support 

Establish effective IT sourcing strategies 

Improve the management of security, risk and compliance issues related to IT 

Manage and measure IT performance 

With the economy showing signs of recovery and businesses turning their attention to pursuing new 

market opportunities, it is a good time now to focus on establishing IT as an efficient and controlled 

business function. 

There are several options available to organizations for reshaping and restructuring their IT function, 

including centralizing functions in a shared service centre, relocating for better access to cheaper 

labor or specialized skills, or sourcing IT functions to a service provider. The benefits that a right 

technology decision offers are myriad, making it one of the most preferred options for restructuring. 

At their most basic level, IT sourcing strategies are about plans, directives, policies and decisions that 

determine how to integrate internal and external resources and services to achieve business 

outcomes. One of the most important aspects of any IT strategy is that it is developed in a manner 

that is consistent with the overall business strategy. To do this effectively, there must be an 

understanding of the role of IT and how it supports and drives the business strategy. The current 

volatile and dynamic market conditions are urging organizations to outsource IT services with an aim 

to reduce costs and strengthen IT efficiencies. The decision however is more complex as technology 

is taken as a strategic enabler, which makes sourcing a more important strategic decision. 

3.8.1. Use of IT for Business Innovation 

Business innovation has become a critical survival quotient for many firms today. Information 

technology powers the rapid pace of innovation by all businesses around us. The senior management 

at banks and financial services firms see innovation as an important parameter to improve the 

performance of their companies. The investments toward technology and innovation have increased 

substantially. These investments are usually realized over a large period of time and are also subject 

to the firms achieving the scalability, which was envisaged. 

Some of the trends in business innovation and information technology noticed in banks are in the 

following areas: 




3.8.2. Trends in innovation in products and services offered: 

Savings Accounts with Auto Sweep Facility 

With an objective to deliver higher value for the savings account customers, banks have 

designed savings accounts with an auto sweep facility with the help of technology. The 

product feature works in a way that when the balance exceeds a given threshold value, the 

same is converted into a fixed deposit. If the balance falls, the fixed deposit is automatically 

broken and the balance is automatically credited back to the savings account of the 

customer. This facility provides a greater yield for customers on ideal funds and help banks 

retain low-cost deposits. 

Smart Cards 

The processor type smart cards with built-in integrated circuits (ICs) or microchips offer a 

wide range of transactional opportunities even from remote areas. Smart cards are 

extensively used for transactions such as cash withdrawals from ATMs, payment of bills and 

online purchases. 

Virtual Bank 

Multimedia technology has been quite effective in bringing banking services to the doorstep 

of its customers. The customer-activated terminal (CAT) or self-banking kiosks are an 

interactive multimedia display unit, housed in a small enclosure, which typically consists of a 

computer workstation, monitor, video disk player and a card reader. It enables customers to 

browse through the information and use the available banking services at their own speed. 

Some banks have established virtual or self-banking branches where the customer enters the 

branch, explores services on the touch screen and at any time calls up members of the bank 

staff by video conferencing. While customers get the convenience of 24X7 banking, the bank 

saves in heavy real estate and manpower costs when compared to establishing a branch. 

Electronic Funds Transfers 

Real time gross settlements (RTGS) and national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) have 

transformed the way funds transfers are done. Moving from three to four days for clearing 

and funds transferred, banks have moved to real-time transfers using online channels and 

mobile phones. 

3.8.3. Innovation Trends in Processes 

Automated workflows and processes 

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI): EDI typically denotes paperless financial transactions 

across the locations within the banks and with customers. EDI is fast becoming a norm 

for intercompany transactions as well as for the procurement of items bought from 

suppliers. For example, the account opening, the forms and documents are scanned and 

sent to the centralized operations unit of the bank to facilitate speedy account opening. 

Banks in Singapore allow electronic submissions by clients by uploading documents and 

establishing trade net, which reduces the delivery time from days to minutes. 




Image Processing: As financial services, including capital markets and banking, are highly 

document intensive, image processing technology can have a far-reaching impact for 

such applications for its less-paper characteristics. Image technology in banks can be 

used for automatic identification or character recognition to read text and diagram 

wherein the cheques or documents can be scanned. 

Business intelligence and customer relationship management applications 

Many banks have strengthened their focus on customer service and have implemented 

business intelligence (BI) and customer relationship management (CRM) applications in the 

organization. These applications help banks to capture the customer expectations better and 

manage the information of a large customer base of banks in a scientific manner to provide 

intelligent and useful customer information to the banks. 

Optimizing Customer Reach 

Segmentation is critical to focus on profitable customers and markets as well as exploit 

effective distribution channels, particularly online. Effective account management can help 

companies broaden their products and services, while customer retention remains a high 

priority. 

Innovation in Delivery Channels 

With the improvisation of delivery channels to the establishment of new deliver channels, 

this is one area where banks have seen the highest level of the impact of technology. 

ATMs 

Automated teller machines have reduced costs per transactions to almost one-fourth as 

compared to the branches. ATMs support a variety of transactions such as cash withdrawal, 

cash deposits, cherub deposits, placement of service requests, including the request for a 

new cheque book. New technology has facilitated the installation of in-wall ATMs, which are 

weather-proof and can be established in shopping malls or busy commercial localities and 

have further reduced the transactions and operations costs for banks. 

Internet Banking and e-Business 

Internet banking has helped the scalability of banks and served customers to maintain and 

manage their accounts without a need to visit the bank. Customers can now process diverse 

transactions with internet banking. They can view transaction details, transfer funds, pay bills 

as well as make purchases. Internet banking has further reduced the costs per transactions of 

banks and is even lower than the cost per transaction done at ATMs. 

Mobile and SMS Banking 

Transactions using GPRS-enabled mobile phones and SMS alerts are the latest innovations in 

delivery channels. Customers can view transactions, transfer funds, pay bills and make 

purchases through mobile banking. SMS alters are sent to customers for all transactions 

made by them above a specified value. Customers can also request to know their balances 

and the last few transaction details by sending an SMS. 




Accelerating the Speed of Response 

In a rapidly changing world, organizations have to develop and launch new products quickly 

and act swiftly when the demand rises or falls. IT has contributed immensely to business 

success in the past decade, but it is clear that the management seeks even more innovation. 

The board and the CIO should therefore be clear on what is expected of IT to ensure that it 

continues to meet expectations. 

IT has continued offering more than just operational support and helps create a competitive 

advantage. For example, in a service industry, the speed of response in customer care may be more 

of a priority to differentiate the offering. 

The extent to which IT facilitates agility also depends largely on the role of the department. While IT 

is seen more as a utility that supports day-to-day operations, it is unrealistic to expect highly 

innovative thinking. 

Outsourcing has also aided agility. However, many businesses are primarily focused on the savings 

this can bring. And by revisiting the opportunities opened up by cloud computing and virtualization, 

organizations have become more flexible at lower costs, reducing the need for investments in 

infrastructure. 

3.8.4. Innovation in Business Model 

Some technological innovations have had such a significant impact that they have transformed the 

business models of banks. Some of them are explained below: 

Core Banking (anywhere Banking) 

Most banks in India support anywhere banking for their customers. This is established by the 

core banking solution implemented across the bank, which provides the same and live 

customer account view to all branches across the bank at any point of time. 

The centralization of back-office operations and innovations such as virtual experts at 

branches is instrumental in transforming the role of branches to advisory hubs from being 

mere transaction processing centers. 

Modern branches have a video conferencing facility where they can connect to the excerpts 

to seek their advice from branches. Branches with a video conferencing facility can also 

receive online training and attend online meetings and town halls, eliminating the need for 

branch professional to travel frequently. 

Financial inclusion 

· Branchless banking comprises essentially all of the following elements: 

· Use of technology, such as payment cards or mobile phones, to identify customers 

and record transactions electronically and, in some cases, to allow customers to 

initiate transactions remotely 

· Use of (exclusive or nonexclusive) third-party outlets, such as post offices and small 

retailers, who act as agents and enable customers to perform functions that require 

their physical presence such as cash handling and customer due diligence for account 

opening 




· Offer of at least basic cash deposits and withdrawal in addition to transactional or 

payment services 

Advantages of branchless banking 

· The service provided at their doorstep/village also helps save time. 

· This is user friendly and hassle free for villagers as there are no challans/vouchers. 

· The business correspondent (BC), being a permanent resident of the village, knows 

the people and their requirements and can assist customers at any time of the day. 

· The cost of transaction is reduced considerably. 

· This equips banks to handle large volumes with less staff. 

· This model reduces the pressure on the counters at rural branches. 

Improving Operational Agility 

The speed with which a company can respond and adapt to market changes has a direct 

influence on how effectively it can compete. To understand market movements, many 

companies are looking to increase their analytical capability, utilize business intelligence 

systems and gain better access to data. And by investing in the right processes and people, 

by seeking opportunities to collaborate or outsource, they can respond quickly to changes in 

demand. An organization’s ability to innovate is critical to its success. 

Achieving cost competitiveness 

Optimizing costs is about more than just reducing expenditure. It starts with managing the 

pricing process, investing in productivity and passing on the pressure to others by seeking 

better commercial terms from partners. Growth has a cost, so financing and optimizing 

capital are also important elements of cost competitiveness. 

Building stakeholder confidence 

To meet the need for greater transparency, companies are engaging with stakeholders by 

identifying and explaining any risks, anticipating regulatory requirements and providing 

enhanced reporting on financial, environmental and operational performance. There is a 

stronger focus on the importance of reengaging with internal stakeholders, notably the 

talent of organizations, to attract and retain the right people. With internet and advanced 

reporting, IT has played a significant role in transforming the way businesses communicate 

with their stakeholders. 

3.8.5. Key Issues 

While technology-focused possibilities of IT may be unlimited due to their application and adoption 

in India, there is a need to exercise a conscious approach for the business process re-engineering of 

existing practices and procedures to capitalize effectively on IT. Training and upgrading skills play a 

critical role in the absorption of new technologies. 




Fraud: The elimination of manual records with the introduction of electronic funds transfers and 

ATMs raises the important question of IT security. This includes issues related to the 

confidentiality of information, prevention of data corruption and cyber crime. 

Costs: IT initiatives usually consume a lot of capital expenditure for banks and the benefits are 

realized over a period of many years to come. Companies really need to prioritize IT expenses 

and conduct a detailed cost-benefit analysis before establishing the need for these technology 

initiatives. 

Resistance to change by employees: Irrespective of how good the applications or systems are, it 

is the people who will be required to enable the effective implementation and smooth transition 

of products and services toward new systems. Further, employees need to gain education and 

expertise in these systems to enable the firms to leverage on the investments and convert them 

to returns. It has been observed that large technology initiatives usually face a lot of resistance to 

change and low acceptance by the employees and therefore become the main reason for the 

failure of such implementation. Banks need to focus their efforts on the training and education of 

employees to enable the successful implementation of their information technology and convert 

investments into returns. 




4. Future Trends and the Changing Role of IT 

4.1. Beyond Core Banking 

Increased adoption of e-payments and mobile banking are clearly the emerging areas which are 

bound to strengthen in the near future. In addition the focus is shifting towards systems and 

processes needed in the maturity phase of the Technology needs curve. Banks are and will need to 

increasingly focusing on cost and profitability management, business intelligence, dashboards/ 

executive information reports, data warehousing and analytics. Improving internal effectiveness and 

efficiency with integrated data warehouse and real-time access to all customer information will help 

the banks’ decision making and ability to deliver appropriate products and services to the customers. 

Banks must see beyond applications that provide solutions to today’s problems. They need to 

develop a vision of a comprehensive infrastructure— comprising internal and external networks 

instantaneously moving information from data stores to users and back again. The importance of the 

IT-business unit partnership cannot be overemphasized. The people and processes are just as critical 

to success as hardware and software. 

Undoubtedly, banks have made great technological advances in storing information. However, the 

full power to use that information to be more productive and make better decisions still goes 

unrealized. By continuing to emphasize only technology and the peripheral business processes it 

affects, banks have seriously neglected their personal and enterprise-wide intelligence. 

The effectiveness of the infrastructure is measured in the value it brings to the customer. That value 

is diminished by business units and individuals that are not networked. Therefore, banks must 

provide access and training, to each member of the bank who directly or indirectly serves customers. 

To make this possible, clear standards and expectations must be published, so the information 

technology organization can bring individuals on-line in a consistent manner. 

Exhibit 22: Technology needs curve 




4.2. Increasing Interconnectivity and Ease of Payments through Different Form Factors 

The economic role of payment systems is connected intimately to the economic role of money. 

Money is a unit of account, a store of value, and a medium of exchange. Cash, checks, electronic 

transfers, debit, credit and charge cards, as well as payment methods relying on mobile phones and 

on the internet are based on different systems for exchanging value between economic entities and 

on different form factors for engaging in this exchange. 

Anywhere anytime banking is becoming the norm due to the implementation of CBS, additionally 

increased efforts by the regulator in setting up ECS, RTGS and NEFT systems is leading to 

interconnectivity and ease of inter and intra-bank funds transfer. The increasing usage of credit/debit 

cards and mobile banking is facilitating the ease of payments through different factors linked to 

vendors and service providers. The trend is likely to strengthen with an increasing number of 

transactions moving online. 

4.3. Energy Management and Move towards ‘Green Technology’ 

Most of the banks are conscious of the carbon footprint generated and are working towards energy 

management and use of ‘Green Technology’. Some of the measures adopted are: 

Adoption of Server Virtualization technologies to save on floor space, power & cooling 

components, 

Use of Datacenter enhancements & Best practices for optimum usage of space, hot air/cool 

air pockets etc., 

Adoption of Blade server technology to have higher computing power in smaller footprint. 

Upgradation of older power hungry Servers, Storage & Networking equipments. 

Dynamic power capping of Servers, Desktops by employing newer power saving technologies 

like processor stepping 

Solar powered ATMs 

Use of windmill energy 

Energy management and adoption of green technology will become increasingly important in the 

future and banks will have to streamline efforts towards accurately monitoring, measuring and 

optimizing the energy consumption. 

4.4. Increasing importance of CRM techniques and Knowledge management 

Customers have grown to expect comprehensive financial services from a single point of contact. 

They are attracted by many new products and services that non-banking institutions have been 

offering. The challenge for banks is to package these products and services and deliver them through 

convenient, user-friendly channels. Only by integrating people, processes, and technology across 

business lines will banks be able to forge a portfolio of virtual banking services based on the 

proclivities of specific customer market segments. 

Consumer behavior is an important factor that will change the functioning and business plans of 

banks in the next decade. The banking sector will increasingly move towards a CRM banking model 

where the banks will have to develop and service products suited/ required at different phases of a 




consumers life. Banks have already started moving towards catching the customers young by 

providing school and college going students with bank accounts. As the youngster grows banks will 

have to track and predict the financial needs using sophisticated analytical models and deliver 

focused products and services. 

It has always been difficult for large institutions to compile information on a single customer from 

multiple points of contact. Customers who choose services and products from multiple business 

areas typically are treated as separate relationships within each area. Because a customer- centric 

infrastructure does not exist at most banks, customer service representatives do not have the 

infrastructure support or the incentive to pull the information together. Without clearly 

understanding the strategic advantages of using a customer data warehouse, bank customer service 

representatives will not change their behavior, and any competitive advantage will be short-lived. 

The bank will gain minimal value from the significant investment required to develop the requisite 

technologies. 

Knowledge Management treats the behavior of people as an equal and essential component of 

effective information-sharing. Knowledge management also enables knowledge from similar 

previous situations to inform current decisions. Both managers and service teams must play a role in 

building a knowledge culture. Managers must codify relevant experiences, packaging them to 

maximize their relevance and reusing them in new situations that create value. Once the knowledge 

has been codified, it needs to be shared with appropriate individuals. 

An integrated approach to knowledge management enables the bank to group its products to serve 

specific market segments, such as lawyers, young professionals, retirees. The product groupings 

would be based on customer feedback as to which products are in demand and on the bank’s 

assessment of each product’s profitability. Once the bank identifies the product groupings, it can 

provide high-quality service, with high-quality support from front and back offices, cross-functional 

data bases, and customer service personnel. 

For banks, information technology plays an important role in informed decision-making by creating a 

means to collect and codify experiences and solutions from similar decisions in such areas as financial 

management, customer service, or relationship development. The enabling technologies include 

client/server technology, distributed computing, networking, and data warehousing. Knowledge of 

what customers need most and are willing to pay a premium to get, should be frequently updated 

and shared across the bank. Technology allows the bank to accomplish this enormously complex 

task. Knowledge means more than just having information; it happens when information is put in 

proper context and shared. For customers, valuable knowledge might be reflected in the 

performance of their financial portfolio or in the ease and success of making transactions. The data 

warehouses and graphical interfaces that support the customer’s portfolio provide real-time access 

to all customer accounts and present them in an integrated, seamless interface. For the bank, 

technology creates a tool for gathering knowledge about customers’ financial behaviors, purchasing 

proclivities, portfolio performance, and market and competitive alternatives. 




Profitability analysis is crucial to the bank’s customer relationships, and it helps identify alternatives 

for delivering value to customers. At present, customer profitability is being redefined as customer 

relationship profitability. Customer relationship profitability includes not only a single customer 

account but the full relationship, which might extend to personal checking, a business account, an 

investment account, and more. For branch services to be mostly focused on marketing and crossselling, 

customer-centric knowledge will need to be leveraged in a well-teamed, highly automated 

branch platform. 

4.5. Stronger Role of IT as Business Transformer/ Performer 

The bank infrastructure is not immutable. New technologies surface every day, and new media (like 

Internet did) will force management to reconsider infrastructural objectives. Defining fundamental 

infrastructure goals will enable the bank to stay focused and adapt without being distracted by 

technologies that do not contribute to customer value. 

The IT function can play a central part in helping organizations adapt to and thrive in this new status 

quo. By aligning their teams with the needs of the business, chief information officers (CIOs) can 

provide strong strategic and operational support. 

IT also has to consider its most appropriate role. In some cases, particularly for larger, global 

companies, senior management may expect IT to provide innovation and transformation, whereas in 

certain smaller firms the emphasis could be upon a more basic service, to keep costs down and serve 

daily operational needs efficiently. Typically, IT fits into one of four broad categories:- 

Utility: Where its main purpose is to keep the business running 

Protector: Where it is primarily concerned with managing the IT estate 

Performer: Where it is expected to deliver tangible value to the business 

Transformer: Where the function transcends day-to-day operational needs to help bring real change 

To advance from a more basic utility/protector function to a transformer/performer IT should better 

understand the needs of the leadership team, continuously work on delivering customer benefits and 

help the organization gain a competitive edge. 

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Technology in Banking-Insight and Foresight for BTA_2011 ... - IDRBT

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