A biometric touch that Dharavi can bank on

MUMBAI: Dhanlaxmi Anand, a resident of Dharavi, which has Asia’s biggest slum area, is overwhelmed by the idea of being able to deposit and withdraw money at her doorsteps, thanks to a revolution called biometric cards. “It saves a lot of time and involves no paper work. Biometric cards are simple to use and understand,” says the New India Insurance agent.

In line with its objective of financial inclusion, Indian Bank had opened a branch in Dharavi last year. This year, it has introduced biometric cards in association with the Financial Information Network & Operations.

Sadanand Misra, general manager and circle head of Indian Bank, said, “When we visited Dharavi, we saw that people in this area were engaged in various activities like preparing eatables like dhoklas, chaklis and other food products. There were others who were into handicrafts. No person was found jobless, but the only problem was that they could not save their income in a bank as they could not comply with the know-your-customer norms.”

The wallet-sized biometric/ smart card comes embedded with an electronic chip. It acts as a customer identity token using the finger print of the customer as bio-password. No need to memorise personal identification numbers.

The person who facilitates the transaction is an authorised officer of the bank, who also has to give his thumb impression to confirm that he is authorised to carry out the transaction.

Also, a customer need not go to the branch; just call the bank and the authorised officer, with the mobile instrument, would arrive at his doorsteps. A similar instrument would be placed at the branch as well. Not only is the service convenient, but also there is no limit on the amount one can withdraw or deposit.

The bank has so far opened 10,220 accounts for Dharavi residents, including 900 “no-frills” accounts.

Interestingly, the facility helps Indian Bank cut down on costs. While an ATM takes about Rs 15-20 lakh, a biometric machine requires an investment of just Rs 20,000.

To ensure the safety of the bank, FINO has decided to take the impression of all the ten fingers in order to curb fraudulent activities, said Rishi Gupta, COO/CFO with FINO. “We plan to disburse 10,000-15,000 cards to the Dharavi customers by the next 6-12 months,” he said, adding, FINO has suggested making available one machine per 500 customers.