Yes Money from Yes Bank - Providing Banking Solutions to the Urban Poor by Leveraging on ICT
Providing banking solutions to the urban poor through the network of business correspondent agents & leveraging on NEFT and IMPS, Yes Money - an initiative by Yes Bank recently won the NASSCOM Social Innovation Honors 2013. We got a chance to know more about the Yes Money initiative with the CIO of Yes Bank, Mr. Anand Bajaj.
In a survey conducted by them, Yes Bank found out that most of the urban poor (typically labourers & migrants) find it difficult to go to a bank for their transactions as banking hours coincides with their working hours. Because of the long queues in bank they end up losing half a day. Also, getting KYC (Know Your Customer) documents for opening a bank account was a stressful process for them. Picking up on these needs Yes Money was introduced with an aim to simplify banking for the urban poor by leveraging on ICT in the industry.Yes Money operates on three basic parameters:
- Appointing Business Correspondent (BC) agents and open new branches with their help.
- Open up larger time window for transaction. NEFT transactions take place till 8PM and IMPS, a 24*7 service.
- No KYC document required.
Rehashing these doubts, Yes Money expanded to 790 outlets in three months from a mere 40 outlets in June 2011. Sharing some more insights on the performance of Yes Money, Mr Bajaj told us that their latest statistics show that 48%(12%- 6AM to 10AM; 36% - 4PM to 10PM) of their transactions are taking place in non-banking hours. Yes Money has also partnered with all leading banks of the country. They have also observed that of over 95 million accounts in over 85000 branches across India, 80-85% are dormant and that roots out from the complexities in current banking processes which Yes Money is trying to simplifying.
Praising the recently introduced IMPS system, Mr. Bajaj said "IMPS has proved to be a boon to us, with only 4 sec transaction and 24*7 availability, its T+1 settlement policy (actual settlement happens next day but the amount gets credited at the same time) is a unique advantage". Yes Money has been the largest contributor to the NPCI volume (National Payments Corporation of India) adding more than twice of all other banks put together. Working on the 'Pizza Philosophy', Yes Money plans to launch 'Person to Person' solutions as well in the time to come. Right now, focus is on integration of bus bridge with the partners, security and assurance up time.Elated with the impact of Yes Money, Mr. Bajaj shares the following statistics validating the same:
- On Oct 5,2012 Reserve Bank of India recognized their work and allowed cash to bank from BC outlets.
- Yes Money has over 12000 outlets spread across the country and counting.
- In all, 2.5 million transactions took place last year saving 12.5 million hours of economy.
- Started for basic banking needs (micro credit/deposit), now Yes Money is available to local shopkeepers, Pepsi drop points, Scholastic and many more, enabling them to safely deposit their money on the same day/night cutting on extra day's time.
Mr. Bajaj further adds that coming this far would not have been possible without the collaboration with all the partner banks. Yes Money believes in 'Walking Together collaboration' sharing a common vision of traversing a long road ahead in partnership. Banks have been actively reconciling the failed transition and supporting at every possible point. Currently, Yes Money has partnered with 68 banks reaching out to over 68000 of their branches with 38 banks on board supporting IMPS payments (accounting for 70% volume). In total, Yes Money is available in 168 cities covering all states, DMIC (Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor) and Southern belt taking care of major industrial corridors.
"Winning NASSCOM Social Innovation Honors 2013 is a great feeling of redemption," said Mr. Bajaj. He also mentioned, "NSIH has not only given an immense exposure to customers, clients and helped in connecting with them, but also adds a chip of responsibility"
"Innovation is not a stock, it's a process provided all right blocks are put up in places and the ecosystem is helping" stated Mr. Bajaj while discussing the road ahead for Yes Money. "When we started we didn't know this much, we just kept on drawing contours and adding the hypothesis. Nuts and bolts are always available, it's up to us to assemble to fix up a problem, and at Yes Money we did the same".
- Showing the quality of a true leader, Mr. Bajaj humbly admits that intelligence doesn't end at them, they are just working on following mantras:Ensuring that services are simple
- Monitoring controls & supervision, understanding the responsibility of handling the hard earned money
- Stitching the transaction process to bring it closer to the end user
“Intent wise, we're in right direction and regulatory bodies are recognizing our efforts now.” Mr. Bajaj sounded contented with the progress in terms of the broader vision of Yes Money.
Yes Money has truly contributed in its own way to the disruptive innovation and we wish them all the very best for their future endeavours.
Disclaimer: YourStory.in is the ‘Media Partners’ for NASSCOM Social Innovation Honors 2013.
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