Nokia to bid for back-end support for payments banks

Company to offer solutions around data, security applications and analytics to handle the large number of small transactions that would happen via these banks

To tap the business opportunities that the proposed payments banks will bring in, Finnish communications and information technology company Nokia plans to offer back-end support to these. The company is in talks with some of these banks and is hopeful of bagging a couple of projects.

Nokia proposes to offer solutions around data, security applications and analytics, to handle the large number of small transactions via these banks. In August last year, 11 firms got the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s in-principle approval to set up payments banks. Of these, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company opted out in March. The other 10 are a Reliance-SBI combine; Aditya Birla Nuvo (Idea Cellular); Airtel; Vodafone; Department of Posts; FINO PayTech; Tech Mahindra; National Securities Depository Limited; Paytm; and Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi. Osvaldo H Di Campli, president (global enterprise and public sector) at Nokia, said while the company is still analysing the payments banks business, it is interested in being part of various projects. "We have a team in India, which is part of the global initiative and we are organised by segments and people are already engaged in discussions."

Read more from our special coverage on "NOKIA"

• Nokia to enter the race to provide solutions for smart cities
• Nokia bags 4G rollout contract from Idea for 3 circles
• Nokia plans to slash 1,300 jobs in Finland

"Mainly we are addressing the needs of data centres to be automated. Most of the data centres today use legacy technology, so that is the best and first solution we will bring to the market. Nokia is looking at the whole enterprise segments. We are in discussions with the various players in the segment," he added. Nokia has been trying to branch out into various other areas in India to expand its footprint in the country. It is also going all out to showcase its Internet of Things-based products, so that it can be seen as a serious contender once the government starts the tendering process for its smart city projects.

The company plans to come out with a host of solutions for smart cities such as smart metering, active waste management, smart parking and various other sensor technology-enabled products.

In the banking space, Nokia is already working with a host of international players and has the technical knowhow that payment banks would need to reinforce their backend processes. "In the banking space, we are going after data centre automation and how to connect different branches of the bank. The complexity that we have in a bank today is very high. We are trying to provide simplification to the way that bank branches function. We have been working with various international banks," added Di Campli.

Nokia is currently working in four non-telecom areas - providing various technology-based solutions for transportation (highways, railways); energy (oil & gas, mining, utilities); public sector (defence, public safety, smart government); and large enterprises. It also helps them with cloud-based initiatives.