Micro finance, global finance and technology are coming together in a first- of -its-kind venture to cater to the entire IT needs of the micro credit sector. This includes the IT needs of regular financial services operation and also some special ones of the micro finance institutions, which serve very poor and often illiterate borrowers.
Intel Capital, West Asia-based Legatum Capital and IFC, the private finance arm of the World Bank, are investing Rs 30 crore for 40 percent stake in Financial Information Network and Operations, a technology firm incubated by ICICI Bank.
FINO focuses on providing biometric smart card-based multi-application solutions to MFI, insurance firms and the government primarily in rural and semi urban areas of the country. It is now adding the conventional part of the IT services portfolio by offering systems integration and IT infrastructure maintenance capabilities.
FINO's smart cards store personal and financial information of micro finance customers and also their fingerprints, enabling them to interact with their MFIs the way a literate person does by using his credit or debit card. The smart card also incorporates the MFI customer's loan pass book and helps it to offer him conventional banking services.
Manish Khera, CEO, FINO, told Business Standard that in-principle agreements have been reached with the three global institutions and these should be finalised by the March-end.
Three PSU banks -- Indian Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Corporation Bank -- are also chipping Rs 20 crore for 30 percent stake in the firm. The remaining 30 per cent is being held by ICICI Bank and ICICI Lombard.
FINO expects to close the next financial year with a topline close to Rs 50 crore and is targeting a topline of Rs 500 crore over five years. The firm already has four micro-finance clients and three more, who have just signed up, will start working with it shortly.
In addition to targeting MFIs, FINO is also looking at offering its services to mainstream banks to introduce smart cards to some of their clients.
"ICICI Bank and the three PSU banks have agreed to use our products and we are exploring how to take this forward," Khera added.
"This micro-finance sector has seen a tremendous upsurge in the recent time. There is a huge potential in this domain and we see ourselves branching out to serve many more unbanked geographies through our association with MFIs," he said.
"Our focus is strongly on the micro-finance sector and we provide both the front-and back-end solutions," he added.
