SBI Kiosk Banking : A leap in financial inclusion drive

In October, 2010,  State Bank of India launched first of its kind facility in India which enable poor workers and small businessmen slogging in urban areas to open a bank account with just one rupee. Small amounts can be deposited, interests can be earned and all services offered by the bank can be assessed under this initiative. SBI made bio-metric scanners mandatory for every retailer to operate this facility.

Kiosks are often referred as Customer Service Points (CSPs).   These kiosk are very successful in remote village areas where villagers hardly find the smooth access to bank services, moreover this is quite popular among migrant laborers working in metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore,  they can deposit or send money to their relatives instantly. 
A kiosk functions like a Mini bank branch with a business correspondent  available between 8 AM - 8 PM on all working days.

The BC remains equipped with a PC which is connected to the SBI’s core banking network. To make it more secure a censor is always used to recognize the fingerprints of concerned CSP on biometric scanner before any transaction on this portal. This initiative is a part of national rollout of  CSPs by SBI in association with Geosansar, which is SBI’s business correspondence partner.

Pay Point India is largest “National Business Corresspondent” for SBI Kisok/ Mini Banking and well spread in Maharastra, Chhattisgarh and Assam.

Start Money Transfer at your shop any time any where!

Few years back, transferring money online was a dream and sending money through other methods were either unsafe or time consuming for migrants and poor. At present few banks are permitted by RBI to initiate money transfers in our country subject to adherence of KYC(know your customer)/AML (anti money laundering)guidelines.

A large number of people, particularly the migrant laborers and factory workers do not have a saving account in the city and  even not able to open an account due to lack of valid address and ID proof, as a result they face difficulties to save their earnings in a safe place and look out for solution to send money to their families.

Reserve Bank have received frequent bank’s applications to open up the formal banking channel to facilitate fund transfers of small value, subject to monthly ceilings .
RBI have issued some guidelines after having reviewed the related proposals. Relaxations given to few Banks to  provide money transfer facilities in a safe, secure and efficient manner across the length and breadth of the country.

These relaxations have the following categories:

1. Liberalize the cash pay-out arrangements for amounts being transferred out of bank accounts to beneficiaries not having a bank account with monthly cap of Rs. 25,000 .

2. Enabling walk in customers(who doesn’t have bank account)  to transfer funds to bank accounts ( family members or others) subject to max. transaction limit of  Rs. 25,000 per remitter.

3. Enabling transfer of funds among domestic debit/credit/pre-paid cards subject to the same transaction limits.

4. Banks shall put in place a robust system of safeguards including velocity checks and alerts to customers about credit into accounts using this facility.

5. Such fund transfers are expected to be effected on a real/near real time basis.

6. Banks/Non-Banks may fix reasonable charges to popularize the scheme.

Customer grievances under this scheme  falls under the purview of the Reserve Bank of India’s Banking Ombudsman Scheme.

Any unusual spurt in volume of credits in a particular account/group of accounts shall be immediately investigated. Appropriate authorities shall be alerted regarding suspicious transactions.

This directive is issued under section 18, of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007, (Act 51 of 2007).

Become an Authorized IRCTC agent in 3 days!

Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Rail E-Ticketing service enables a retailer to do online reservation of railway berths  and generate tickets for passengers. Pay Point India is authorized by IRCTC as a ‘Principle agent’ to appoint IRCTC agents across India.

IRCTC does not provide agent license to an individual directly but it delivers the same through IRCTC authorized Principal Agent. Pay Point India is providing the opportunity to retailers to become Indian Railway authorized e-ticketing agent. To start a railway ticket booking agency you need an IRCTC license, selling railway tickets without IRCTC license is an offence.

After an application through Pay Point India for IRCTC services, retailer gets the approval from IRCTC in 5-10 days and Pay Point team informs the retailer about the service activation same day. After approval he gets following benefits:

• Commercial License for selling railway e-tickets
• Convenient booking of e-tickets
• Easy Cancellation
• Wait-Listed e-tickets can also be booked
• Increase in customers Loyalty
• Increase in customers footfall
• A gateway to enter online services business. 

Following documents are required to apply for the IRCTC services:

• Three Passport size photographs
• Photo Identity Proof (Officer Attested copy)
• Address Proof (Officer Attested copy )
• Class – 3 Form for digital signature certificate.

Why Digital Signature? 

Digital Signature or SIFY form is mandatory to avail this service, following are the benefits of using digital signatures:

• Efficient portal let you book multiple railway tickets for various customers from anywhere on the IRCTC website
• It is cost effective to book train tickets online
• Use of digital signatures and electronic documents help to make online transactions more secure
• IRCTC web verifies the identity of the authorized travel agent and only allows genuine agents to book tickets
• No one can book tickets with your login details due to required digital certificate authentication
• Hassle-free transactions: travel agents can book railway tickets without any additional hassles 
• Before starting this business :
  • You should have a computer or laptop
  • You should have a printer
  • You should have an internet connection. 
  Complimentary Services :
  • Utility bill payment
  • DTH & Mobile Recharge
  • Air ticket Booking
  • Bus Ticket Booking
  • Hotel Booking
  • Cinema Booking
  
  

Quick Money Transfer through Mobile

“Immediate Payment Service” is an instant inter bank electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones. It is also being extended through other channels such as ATM, Internet Banking, etc. IMPS is offered by most of the pvt. and govt. banks with safe and secure transaction system. Pay Point Indiaenables the customers to do IMPS any time, any where.
Mobile Money Identification Number (MMID) is a seven digit number of which the first four digits are the unique identification number of the bank offering IMPS.  IMPS is available to all registered users of Online  having transaction rights on one or more accounts.
You can add and approve only one beneficiary in a calendar day, which will be activated by the internet banking system within 4 hours, if approved by you during the period from 6.00 AM to 8.00 PM (IST). Beneficiary approved after 8.00 PM will be activated on the next day after 8.00 AM (IST). You can commence funds transfer to the new beneficiary only after its activation. On the first day of activation, you can remit a maximum amount of Rs. 10000/-. During the first 5 days after activation, you can transfer a total sum of Rs. 50,000/- to a new beneficiary if activated by the system.

Mobile Banking :Banks are permitted to provide services which facilitate transfer of funds from the accounts of their customers for delivery in cash to the recipients not having bank accounts at an ATM or through an agent appointed as Business Correspondent. It has been decided to raise the ceiling on the value of such transfers from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000 per transaction subject to the cap of Rs. 25,000 per month. It has been further decided to permit banks to facilitate such fund transfers through any other authorized payment channels as well. The remitting bank shall obtain full details of the name and address of the beneficiary.

Payment of amounts to be credited to bank accounts (Cash Pay in Scheme) Presently, a walk-in customer at a bank branch can remit funds up to Rs. 50,000 to the bank account of a beneficiary through NEFT. Besides, banks are also permitted to allow such customers to transfer funds to a Bank account of a beneficiary through BCs, ATMs, etc. up to a maximum amount of Rs.5,000 per transaction with a monthly cap of Rs. 25,000. Such a walk-in customer needs to provide minimum details like his name and complete address to the remitting bank.

Card to Card transfers : Cards (credit/debit/prepaid) as a means of payment and their acceptance at various delivery channels have been gaining popularity. While the debit cards are directly linked to the bank account of the customer, the credit card account and prepaid card accounts are held in the books of the bank which has been opened after due diligence by the banks. Prepaid payment instruments are issued by both banks and non-banks, the latter being permitted to issue only semi-closed prepaid cards. As on date, semi-closed prepaid cards are usable only for payments of goods and services (P2B).

Pay Point India is authorized by State Bank Of India, ICICI Bank and Yes bank to  distribute the service of money transfer  by appointing several retailers as “Customer Service Point” in remote village areas and in Metros as well.

The current remittance industry market size is about $500-$600 Billion per year. How much of this is actually Peer to Peer money transfer is highly debatable and speculative at best.