FINO Tatkaal Facilitates Remittance For Underprivileged

Financial Information Network and Operations (FINO) has launched remittance services enabled through its smartcard technology, which can potentially change the way remittances are done in the country. The solution, named FINO Tatkaal, acts as a bridge between the remitter and beneficiary, providing the geographical coverage, scalable technology platform and processing capabilities necessary for remittance transactions.

In simple terms, FINO Tatkaal enables domestic (city to village) and international (overseas workers to villages) remittances through a formal remittance delivery channel using FINO Smartcard technology to the last unbanked mile. These services are currently made available to the existing customer base of FINO in the areas of Shivaji Nagar and Dharavi in Mumbai with the help of Union Bank of India.

FINO Tatkaal provides various advantages over non-formal channels with a combination of convenience, safety, speed and cost effectiveness. The service has been well-received by the migrant works living in the above areas, who have unique remittance needs with lower ticket size and variable frequency. It has been live for more than a month now and has been developed using FINO’s transaction processing system based on biometric authentication. The service-based transaction processing system provides a safe electronic way to deliver remittances to the doorstep of beneficiaries in the remotest areas. Currently, FINO has rolled out 1200 locations in 16 states with a strength of 4,000 Business Correspondents (Bandhus) in India.

Manish Khera, CEO, FINO, said, “Tatkaal will provide a convenient and quick remittance delivery option to customers with better features than those available even to the banked segment. This product has currently been rolled out in all areas of Mumbai with the help of Union Bank of India and families of migrant workers in UP and Bihar are already benefitting from these services”.

He further added that due to manual, agent-based collection and disbursal system, the timing can be adjusted to suit the convenience of both remitters and beneficiaries. The remitter can keep depositing money into the beneficiary account as and when he has surplus, so this avoids the need to carry cash around and wait to save a lumpsum. The wide network of FINO enables the customer to access services in a seamless manner even if he moves to different parts of the city or the country.