Microsoft Corporation is looking at financial inclusion as a major business opportunity in India. The corporation believes there is money to be made by reaching out to the unbanked and technology could play a major role in the bridging this gap. The company is working with several partners in developing solutions to reduce costs in rural banking and providing platforms for banks to acquire customers in rural areas. ?The objective is to make the adoption of Microsoft technologies relevant to business and make sure that the business challenges are met,? Santosh Khanolkar, director, platform strategy, Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt Ltd said.
?Rural entrepreneurs have no access to affordable capital. Banks face a market dilemma here. While there is a huge market opportunity for rural loans to the tune of at least $600 million every year, the costs are untenable. There could be significant profit opportunity if costs could be lowered,? he said. Loan servicing costs are expensive for a rural loan and banks are not geared up to rural marketing of its products. Technology could play a major role here,? he said. Microsoft is running a pilot with IIIT-B for a mobile rural banking system around 300 km from Bangalore for providing banking services.
