Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd (FINO) and eGov Services recently entered into a strategic partnership to provide financial products and services to citizens across Jharkhand. The agreement, which marks yet another major step in the field of microfinance, will see eGov Services deliver FINO’s microfinance offerings aggregated by Common Service Centre (CSC) Infrastructure.

Multi-partner banks and insurance companies partnering with FINO, too, will participate in the endeavour. Says CSC Infrastructure chairman Ashok Kumar, “Rural India’s estimated credit requirement is Rs 50,000 crore. If we stick to the current structure, then fulfilling this will take a long time and might also result in the exclusion of some customers. Hence, there is an urgent need to introduce technology in the microfinance sector in order to expand the scale of operations. This is what eGov Services is attempting to do in collaboration with FINO.”

The partnership has been warmly welcomed by various participants and stakeholders in the microfinance sector, as a developed and pervasive microfinance sector would go a long way in making our economic development an all-inclusive process. Experts say that microfinance sector developments like the FINO-eGov Services partnership will go a long way in bringing the poor and underprivileged into the ambit of the development process. Says FINO chief executive officer Manish Khera: “The microfinance sector reaches out to a larger number of people than banks do. It is definitely leading to the growth of both its customers and the economy.”

“For instance,” he added, “when a group of people initially start with small loans from the microfinance sector and later graduate to a stage where they require larger loans from banks, it definitely signifies growth. The sector is fast growing and FINO has the necessary technology to add value to it as it moves from manual to automated services during its growth .”

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