Will Saral Money reduce corruption?

Friday, December 14, 2012

The date Dec. 12, 2012, could be a significant one in India’s banking history. This was the day when five banks and Visa came together to offer banking services to the unbanked population in India, which stands at nearly 400 million.

Christened “Saral Money”, this new service leverages the government’s flagship Aadhaar program to offer a Visa ‘instant account’ to financially excluded individuals in India.

It has never been easy to open a bank account in India., which is something I had blogged about back in October 2009. In short, my domestic help was facing a lot of harassment when she tried to open a bank account then, even though she had an ID card. I had to speak to the bank manager, who eventually did help her out.

For those who do not have an ID card, opening a bank account in India is nearly an impossibility today.

Source: ZDNet (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Uncategorized
Tags
financial inclusion