Fino to tap northeast

Financial Inclusion Network and Operations (Fino), a Mumbai-based financial inclusion facilitator, is planning to tap the north-eastern region and help in achieving financial inclusion there.

“The northeast region is not fully tapped by the banks. We will be covering it in partnership with several banks. Currently, we have tied up with four banks including State Bank of India (SBI), Axis Bank and ICICI Bank to tap this region,” Mario S Roche, vice-president and head (zonal operations), Fino, told mediapersons here.

The company is studying the market and designing customised products to suit the customers there. The banks are expecting around six million accounts from the region, he added.

India has 80 million account-holders, of which 90 per cent accounts have been opened by business correspondents and the rest is done by the banks themselves. So far, Fino has enrolled 46 million customers through its BCs out of the 80 million, leading the market in this segment. It plans to enroll around 100 million customers in the next three years, he said.

Fino operates through a network of 27,000 field force and works with 24 banks. It operates on a business technology platform using biometric smart cards and hand-held devices.

Since its inception in 2006, it has managed to attract big investors. Some of these include Intel Capital and International Finance Corporation, Indian public sector banks, LIC and more recently Blackstone Private Equity. In July 2011, global private equity major Blackstone invested Rs 150 crore for an undisclosed stake in the company.

Andhra Pradesh is the largest market for Fino, where it has presence across 620 blocks and 9,900 gram panchayats, he said.