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POLICY BRIEF ON FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN INDIA
                                                            July, 2011

               Agent Network Management - Corporate retail networks as business correspondents of banks
                                              Center for Financial Inclusion, Indicus Analytics, New Delhi
                                      This is the fourth of five policy briefs to study the intricacies of expanding financial inclusion

BACKGROUND

While branchless banking through business correspondents (BCs) has been in force since 2006, for-profit companies have been
allowed to operate as BCs for banks recently in September 2010. Following the international experience of developing countries
facing the issue of limited access to financial services, policy makers in India have now accepted that financial inclusion, earlier seen
as a social responsibility, has to be treated as a viable business activity. It is clear that expanding the scale and scope of financial
services to all parts of the country and all segments of the population calls for a commercial approach to be sustainable.

                            Executive Summary                                      The advantages and disadvantages in using for-profit
                                                                                   corporates as BCs:
 With the RBI allowing for-profit corporate to engage as business
 correspondents for banks, banks are gearing up to partner with the                While allowing for-profit companies to act as BCs, the RBI listed out
 corporate sector in order to leverage their wide retail network in rural          the various pros and cons of this move.
 areas. While this partnership offers huge opportunity to achieve the
 unfulfilled goal of financial inclusion, the models of engagement are             Advantages :
 still evolving. On one hand, corporate have to deal with financial
 viability and inherent technology risks, on the other banks have a                Ÿ Corporates with existing widespread retail networks bring in larger
 much higher stake at maintaining financial stability, liquidity
 management and reputation risk. The BC model has been proven to                     resources, substantial organizational strength and financial backing
 be commercially viable by the fifth year and companies dealing in                   needed for a large network of BCs.
 FMCG, oil, agri inputs, pharma and telecom have greatest potential                Ÿ Large corporates tend to have efficient monitoring and control
 to act as BC to banks. Going forward it is important to address the                 systems for management of retail outlets.
 needs of the widely heterogeneous population in the country and put in            Ÿ Retail agents of large corporates may find it more comfortable to
 place models and systems that will best exploit the latent synergy in               deal with the company that they are already used to and familiar
 banks and corporate, moving India towards universal financial                       with, rather than with the bank.
 inclusion in its truest sense.                                                    Ÿ Large companies can run into reputation risk if they fail as BCs.
                                                                                     Thus, there is a strong incentive to ensure that agents do not
 jeopardize the company goodwill and reputation.
Ÿ Corporates are more likely to work as BCs for a longer period than individuals, thus ensuring continuity of services.

Disadvantages:

Ÿ Concerns of mis-selling of banking products by the corporate distribution network in the interest of revenue maximization.
Ÿ Conflict of interest: a retail agent of a corporate may tend to provide banking services only to those customers who patronize the
 corporate's products to enhance his earnings.
Ÿ Corporate BCs could misuse customer related information for their own commercial interests.
Ÿ Unfair coercive practices by corporate agents for marketing financial products / recovery of loans etc. could lead to reputation
 risks for the banks.
Ÿ The risk of continuity of business still persists with the corporate who may decide to discontinue the retail agent, making it
 difficult for banks to find immediate replacement of agents.

With for-profit corporates allowed to operate as BCs, the issue at hand now is - what would be the best route to deploy different
corporate retail networks as BCs that can move the fastest in scaling up financial inclusion in the country?



      © Indicus Analytics Pvt. Ltd., 2nd Floor, Nehru House, 4-Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India. E-mail: indic@indicus.net, Web: www.indicus.net
  The support of ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ is gratefully acknowledged.
Models of engagement: Banks and Corporates as business correspondents

There are various ways in which corporates and banks can engage, each with its own structure of agent network management.

             Generic models of structuring corporate retailers as BC networks                    1 Corporate as BC and retailer as
          Model 1            Model 2                  Model 3                 Model 4              sub-agents: The corporate entity
           Bank                      Bank                 Bank                    Bank             becomes the BC of the bank and
                                                                                                   offers its retailers as sub agents.
                                          CNM                   BNM                       ENM
                                                                                                   This is most likely in businesses
       Corporate                                                                                   where retailers deal exclusively with
           BC                                                                                      the corporate products or depend
                                                                                                   on the corporate significantly for
                                                                                                   their business.
   Agents of BC retailers BCs – Retailers BCs – Retailers    BCs- Retailers                      2 Banks select some corporate
   CNM – Corporate Network Manager (Principal corporate managing the BCs)                          agents as BCs with the corporate
   BNM – Bank Staff Network Manager (Bank Employee managing the BCs)
   ENM – External (outsourced) Network Manager (External agency managing the BCs)                  as network manager: Banks take
   Source: Thorat et al (September 2010)                                                           selected retail agents of a corporate
                                                                                                   entity as BCs in a clusterised
                                                                                                   network. The corporate acts as the
  network manager and ensures performance and compliance of BCs in accordance with the expectations of the bank.
3. Retailer as BC with a bank employee as network manager: While retailers are engagedJ as BC agents, an employee of bank
  manages the network. Here the corporate entity is used for identification of retailers to be engaged as BCs.
4. Retailer as BC with network management outsourced by the bank: Similar to the previous modeJl, except that network
  management is outsourced to a third party manager by the bank.

Suitability of corporate retail networks as business correspondents

 A study by Dr. YSP Thorat and others, 'Feasibility Of Engaging Corporate Retail Networks As Business Correspondents of Banks
 – A Study', in September 2010 examined the relative suitability of five types of corporates with extensive retail networks in rural
 areas. There are a number of factors that determine the effectiveness of a retail network as business correspondents - number of
 footfalls, linkage with parent corporate body, product portfolio offered to customers etc.

Ÿ FMCG retailers were rated with low suitability as BCs: Retail outlets selling FMCG products have relatively lower connection with
 the corporate companies whose products they sell, also there is no homogeneity amongst the type of customers visiting the
 outlets. Thus, FMCG retail outlets may not fit well with the requirements of operating a cash in/cash out network on behalf of
 banks.

Ÿ Pharmaceutical retailers were rated with low suitability as BCs- Pharma retail outlets are easily accessible by the customers,
 however they have indirect contact with the corporates with dealers being the interface. These outlets do get high footfalls but
 converting them to banking customers would require huge shift in focus.

Ÿ Agri-input retailers were rated with moderate to high suitability as BCs - Retail outlets selling agri inputs like seeds, fertilizers have
 strong links with the corporate as well as with clients. These outlets are well suited to set up and run cash-in/cash-out networks and
 there is also willingness from retailers to operate as BCs due to high business potential that might result once customers are able to
 access loans from banks.



       © Indicus Analytics Pvt. Ltd., 2nd Floor, Nehru House, 4-Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India. E-mail: indic@indicus.net, Web: www.indicus.net
   The support of ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ is gratefully acknowledged.
Ÿ Airtime (telecom) retail outlets were rated with moderate to high suitability as BCs- Telecom retailers are managed by corporates
  through a huge distributor network with strong controls. A telecom operator is cued into making money from millions of small
  transactions, each with a small margin.

Ÿ Oil pumps were rated with high suitability as BCs– Oil pumps have a very close association with the parent oil company which
 provides infrastructure and technical support to the retail outlets. Also oversight arrangements are in place by the parent
 company for monitoring of the functioning of the retail outlets. Oil pumps are expanding into providing other goods and
 services at their outlets, including bank ATMs. With their expertise in handling significant amounts of cash and network
                                                    management, when it comes to willingness and capability, these are the best
   Comparative rating of corporate retail networks
                                                    suited to operate as BCs.
   for suitability to act as BCs
   Type of product               Suitability       Viability of the BC model:
   FMCG                          Low
   Pharmaceutical                Low               According to a survey conducted in Udaipur and Surat districts under the
                                                   Thorat study, estimates based on assumptions of average 300 footfalls per day
   Agricultural inputs           Moderate to high
                                                   in a BC located in or near a marketplace show that a BC agent would breakeven
   Airtime (Telecom)             Moderate to high  after recovering minimal investment costs in the fourth year. If however, the
   Oil pumps                     High              BC agent is required to invest in the POS terminal, then the cash flow of the
                                                   BC turns positive in the fifth year. The BC is in a position to earn a minimum
income of Rs. 120,000 from the sixth year onwards. While being a commercially viable proposition, the BC model will also
increasingly provide coverage of financial services to the unbanked. Estimates made by the Thorat study indicate that savings
accounts would be the first to expand. Loan accounts and other financial services would be slower to grow as familiarity and trust
builds in the new system.

Year wise and category wise projections of feasible coverage
Products and coverage (% of people not having
bank account)                                     Year 1     Year 2                        Year 3      Year 4       Year 5

 Saving Bank                                                         10           30        60           70           75
 Loan accounts                                                        3           10        20           30           35

 Insurance and other products                                         3           7         10           14           17
 Remittances                                                          3           7         10           14           17

                                                                                  Source: Thorat et al September 2010

Current initiatives in corporate-bank engagement:

While international experience shows that it can take up to a year for banks and corporates to flesh out engagement strategies,
some initiatives have already begun in India:
Ÿ ICICI is working with Aircel to distribute its various financial products including savings accounts, pre-paid instruments and
   credit products.
Ÿ Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank have tied up with TCS and HCL.
Ÿ IDBI Bank, Corporation Bank and Indian Overseas Bank are looking at TVS, Larsen & Toubro and oil companies.




     © Indicus Analytics Pvt. Ltd., 2nd Floor, Nehru House, 4-Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India. E-mail: indic@indicus.net, Web: www.indicus.net
 The support of ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ is gratefully acknowledged.
Ÿ The Corporation Bank has tied up with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) to provide basic banking facilities for small-
  distance commercial vehicle drivers, auto drivers, conductors, cleaners, etc through the business correspondent (BC) model. It
  has already set up handheld devices in about 10 BPCL outlets that will enable deposit, withdrawal of cash through smart cards.
Ÿ State Bank of India has entered into a joint venture with Airtel to spread banking facilities to the unbanked and under banked
  areas of the country. The JV will become the business correspondent of SBI and offer banking products and services at
  affordable cost to the citizens in unbanked and other areas. Airtel retailers will be set up as customer service points.

Risks in the use of corporate retail networks as business correspondents

There are of course inherent risks both for banks and for corporates that go with these entities charting new territory and business
models. For corporates the risks are mainly two: a) Failure to generate adequate revenue b) Technology risk that involves
suitability of technology, possibility of failure of technology and the accompanying issues.

The risk that banks face in dealing through business correspondents relate to five points a) Interface with the customer b)
Interface of the BC with its own staff who would be putting through banking transactions c) Interface between the bank and the
BC d) Technological interface between the three different tiers in transaction e) Possibility of fraud and loss inherent in any
finance based business. Therefore, on one hand, the BCs would be exposed to the possibility of not generating adequate revenue
and dealing with inherent technology risks, on the other it is the banks who would have a much higher stake at maintaining
financial stability, liquidity management and reputation risk. A strong risk mitigation system needs to evolve mutually between the
banks and corporates to prevent both entities from running into significant losses which can arise from the risks discussed above.

Concerns of the Regulator in using Corporate Networks as BCs
Even as the Reserve Bank of India has given permission for corporate to act as BCs to banks, the regulator has expressed
concerns arising from these models as mentioned in the earlier section. The main concerns stem from the need to ensure financial
stability and maintain customer protection. In addition, the issue of concentration risks is also important, which can happen when
corporate agents offer a very large and significant service to a high percentage of population in local areas. The RBI would like
this to be addressed effectively by the banks through proper contracting for services.

However, there has been an understanding that ensuring systemic integrity of financial sector institutions and maintaining
customer protection needs to be balanced with acceleration of financial inclusion. Having a sound monitoring system in place,
both with the BCs and banks to manage performance of BC agents is therefore an imperative. .

Way Forward
Given the heterogeneity in India, both banks and corporates would need to evolve appropriate models keeping the needs of
population in mind. As RBI Deputy Governor Dr. Subir Gokarn emphasized in March 2011, “Establishing a relationship with first-
time consumers of financial products and services offers the opportunity to leverage this relationship into a wider set of financial transactions as at least
some of these consumers move steadily up the income ladder. In other words, the commercial viability and profitability of a financial inclusion strategy need
not be viewed only from the perspective of immediacy. … The social costs and consequences of badly conceived and executed inclusion strategy could be
enormous. We need to bring all relevant knowledge and experience into the development of the strategy in order to maximize the possibility of it
succeeding.” While the risks in the partnership are to be well understood and addressed, there is a definite synergy that begs to be
exploited in this relationship between banks and corporates for India to achieve universal financial inclusion in its truest sense.




       © Indicus Analytics Pvt. Ltd., 2nd Floor, Nehru House, 4-Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India. E-mail: indic@indicus.net, Web: www.indicus.net
   The support of ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ is gratefully acknowledged.

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POLICY BRIEF ON FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN INDIA: Agent Network Management - Corporate retail networks as business correspondents of banks

  • 1. POLICY BRIEF ON FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN INDIA July, 2011 Agent Network Management - Corporate retail networks as business correspondents of banks Center for Financial Inclusion, Indicus Analytics, New Delhi This is the fourth of five policy briefs to study the intricacies of expanding financial inclusion BACKGROUND While branchless banking through business correspondents (BCs) has been in force since 2006, for-profit companies have been allowed to operate as BCs for banks recently in September 2010. Following the international experience of developing countries facing the issue of limited access to financial services, policy makers in India have now accepted that financial inclusion, earlier seen as a social responsibility, has to be treated as a viable business activity. It is clear that expanding the scale and scope of financial services to all parts of the country and all segments of the population calls for a commercial approach to be sustainable. Executive Summary The advantages and disadvantages in using for-profit corporates as BCs: With the RBI allowing for-profit corporate to engage as business correspondents for banks, banks are gearing up to partner with the While allowing for-profit companies to act as BCs, the RBI listed out corporate sector in order to leverage their wide retail network in rural the various pros and cons of this move. areas. While this partnership offers huge opportunity to achieve the unfulfilled goal of financial inclusion, the models of engagement are Advantages : still evolving. On one hand, corporate have to deal with financial viability and inherent technology risks, on the other banks have a Ÿ Corporates with existing widespread retail networks bring in larger much higher stake at maintaining financial stability, liquidity management and reputation risk. The BC model has been proven to resources, substantial organizational strength and financial backing be commercially viable by the fifth year and companies dealing in needed for a large network of BCs. FMCG, oil, agri inputs, pharma and telecom have greatest potential Ÿ Large corporates tend to have efficient monitoring and control to act as BC to banks. Going forward it is important to address the systems for management of retail outlets. needs of the widely heterogeneous population in the country and put in Ÿ Retail agents of large corporates may find it more comfortable to place models and systems that will best exploit the latent synergy in deal with the company that they are already used to and familiar banks and corporate, moving India towards universal financial with, rather than with the bank. inclusion in its truest sense. Ÿ Large companies can run into reputation risk if they fail as BCs. Thus, there is a strong incentive to ensure that agents do not jeopardize the company goodwill and reputation. Ÿ Corporates are more likely to work as BCs for a longer period than individuals, thus ensuring continuity of services. Disadvantages: Ÿ Concerns of mis-selling of banking products by the corporate distribution network in the interest of revenue maximization. Ÿ Conflict of interest: a retail agent of a corporate may tend to provide banking services only to those customers who patronize the corporate's products to enhance his earnings. Ÿ Corporate BCs could misuse customer related information for their own commercial interests. Ÿ Unfair coercive practices by corporate agents for marketing financial products / recovery of loans etc. could lead to reputation risks for the banks. Ÿ The risk of continuity of business still persists with the corporate who may decide to discontinue the retail agent, making it difficult for banks to find immediate replacement of agents. With for-profit corporates allowed to operate as BCs, the issue at hand now is - what would be the best route to deploy different corporate retail networks as BCs that can move the fastest in scaling up financial inclusion in the country? © Indicus Analytics Pvt. Ltd., 2nd Floor, Nehru House, 4-Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India. E-mail: indic@indicus.net, Web: www.indicus.net The support of ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ is gratefully acknowledged.
  • 2. Models of engagement: Banks and Corporates as business correspondents There are various ways in which corporates and banks can engage, each with its own structure of agent network management. Generic models of structuring corporate retailers as BC networks 1 Corporate as BC and retailer as Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 sub-agents: The corporate entity Bank Bank Bank Bank becomes the BC of the bank and offers its retailers as sub agents. CNM BNM ENM This is most likely in businesses Corporate where retailers deal exclusively with BC the corporate products or depend on the corporate significantly for their business. Agents of BC retailers BCs – Retailers BCs – Retailers BCs- Retailers 2 Banks select some corporate CNM – Corporate Network Manager (Principal corporate managing the BCs) agents as BCs with the corporate BNM – Bank Staff Network Manager (Bank Employee managing the BCs) ENM – External (outsourced) Network Manager (External agency managing the BCs) as network manager: Banks take Source: Thorat et al (September 2010) selected retail agents of a corporate entity as BCs in a clusterised network. The corporate acts as the network manager and ensures performance and compliance of BCs in accordance with the expectations of the bank. 3. Retailer as BC with a bank employee as network manager: While retailers are engagedJ as BC agents, an employee of bank manages the network. Here the corporate entity is used for identification of retailers to be engaged as BCs. 4. Retailer as BC with network management outsourced by the bank: Similar to the previous modeJl, except that network management is outsourced to a third party manager by the bank. Suitability of corporate retail networks as business correspondents A study by Dr. YSP Thorat and others, 'Feasibility Of Engaging Corporate Retail Networks As Business Correspondents of Banks – A Study', in September 2010 examined the relative suitability of five types of corporates with extensive retail networks in rural areas. There are a number of factors that determine the effectiveness of a retail network as business correspondents - number of footfalls, linkage with parent corporate body, product portfolio offered to customers etc. Ÿ FMCG retailers were rated with low suitability as BCs: Retail outlets selling FMCG products have relatively lower connection with the corporate companies whose products they sell, also there is no homogeneity amongst the type of customers visiting the outlets. Thus, FMCG retail outlets may not fit well with the requirements of operating a cash in/cash out network on behalf of banks. Ÿ Pharmaceutical retailers were rated with low suitability as BCs- Pharma retail outlets are easily accessible by the customers, however they have indirect contact with the corporates with dealers being the interface. These outlets do get high footfalls but converting them to banking customers would require huge shift in focus. Ÿ Agri-input retailers were rated with moderate to high suitability as BCs - Retail outlets selling agri inputs like seeds, fertilizers have strong links with the corporate as well as with clients. These outlets are well suited to set up and run cash-in/cash-out networks and there is also willingness from retailers to operate as BCs due to high business potential that might result once customers are able to access loans from banks. © Indicus Analytics Pvt. Ltd., 2nd Floor, Nehru House, 4-Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India. E-mail: indic@indicus.net, Web: www.indicus.net The support of ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ is gratefully acknowledged.
  • 3. Ÿ Airtime (telecom) retail outlets were rated with moderate to high suitability as BCs- Telecom retailers are managed by corporates through a huge distributor network with strong controls. A telecom operator is cued into making money from millions of small transactions, each with a small margin. Ÿ Oil pumps were rated with high suitability as BCs– Oil pumps have a very close association with the parent oil company which provides infrastructure and technical support to the retail outlets. Also oversight arrangements are in place by the parent company for monitoring of the functioning of the retail outlets. Oil pumps are expanding into providing other goods and services at their outlets, including bank ATMs. With their expertise in handling significant amounts of cash and network management, when it comes to willingness and capability, these are the best Comparative rating of corporate retail networks suited to operate as BCs. for suitability to act as BCs Type of product Suitability Viability of the BC model: FMCG Low Pharmaceutical Low According to a survey conducted in Udaipur and Surat districts under the Thorat study, estimates based on assumptions of average 300 footfalls per day Agricultural inputs Moderate to high in a BC located in or near a marketplace show that a BC agent would breakeven Airtime (Telecom) Moderate to high after recovering minimal investment costs in the fourth year. If however, the Oil pumps High BC agent is required to invest in the POS terminal, then the cash flow of the BC turns positive in the fifth year. The BC is in a position to earn a minimum income of Rs. 120,000 from the sixth year onwards. While being a commercially viable proposition, the BC model will also increasingly provide coverage of financial services to the unbanked. Estimates made by the Thorat study indicate that savings accounts would be the first to expand. Loan accounts and other financial services would be slower to grow as familiarity and trust builds in the new system. Year wise and category wise projections of feasible coverage Products and coverage (% of people not having bank account) Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Saving Bank 10 30 60 70 75 Loan accounts 3 10 20 30 35 Insurance and other products 3 7 10 14 17 Remittances 3 7 10 14 17 Source: Thorat et al September 2010 Current initiatives in corporate-bank engagement: While international experience shows that it can take up to a year for banks and corporates to flesh out engagement strategies, some initiatives have already begun in India: Ÿ ICICI is working with Aircel to distribute its various financial products including savings accounts, pre-paid instruments and credit products. Ÿ Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank have tied up with TCS and HCL. Ÿ IDBI Bank, Corporation Bank and Indian Overseas Bank are looking at TVS, Larsen & Toubro and oil companies. © Indicus Analytics Pvt. Ltd., 2nd Floor, Nehru House, 4-Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India. E-mail: indic@indicus.net, Web: www.indicus.net The support of ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ is gratefully acknowledged.
  • 4. Ÿ The Corporation Bank has tied up with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) to provide basic banking facilities for small- distance commercial vehicle drivers, auto drivers, conductors, cleaners, etc through the business correspondent (BC) model. It has already set up handheld devices in about 10 BPCL outlets that will enable deposit, withdrawal of cash through smart cards. Ÿ State Bank of India has entered into a joint venture with Airtel to spread banking facilities to the unbanked and under banked areas of the country. The JV will become the business correspondent of SBI and offer banking products and services at affordable cost to the citizens in unbanked and other areas. Airtel retailers will be set up as customer service points. Risks in the use of corporate retail networks as business correspondents There are of course inherent risks both for banks and for corporates that go with these entities charting new territory and business models. For corporates the risks are mainly two: a) Failure to generate adequate revenue b) Technology risk that involves suitability of technology, possibility of failure of technology and the accompanying issues. The risk that banks face in dealing through business correspondents relate to five points a) Interface with the customer b) Interface of the BC with its own staff who would be putting through banking transactions c) Interface between the bank and the BC d) Technological interface between the three different tiers in transaction e) Possibility of fraud and loss inherent in any finance based business. Therefore, on one hand, the BCs would be exposed to the possibility of not generating adequate revenue and dealing with inherent technology risks, on the other it is the banks who would have a much higher stake at maintaining financial stability, liquidity management and reputation risk. A strong risk mitigation system needs to evolve mutually between the banks and corporates to prevent both entities from running into significant losses which can arise from the risks discussed above. Concerns of the Regulator in using Corporate Networks as BCs Even as the Reserve Bank of India has given permission for corporate to act as BCs to banks, the regulator has expressed concerns arising from these models as mentioned in the earlier section. The main concerns stem from the need to ensure financial stability and maintain customer protection. In addition, the issue of concentration risks is also important, which can happen when corporate agents offer a very large and significant service to a high percentage of population in local areas. The RBI would like this to be addressed effectively by the banks through proper contracting for services. However, there has been an understanding that ensuring systemic integrity of financial sector institutions and maintaining customer protection needs to be balanced with acceleration of financial inclusion. Having a sound monitoring system in place, both with the BCs and banks to manage performance of BC agents is therefore an imperative. . Way Forward Given the heterogeneity in India, both banks and corporates would need to evolve appropriate models keeping the needs of population in mind. As RBI Deputy Governor Dr. Subir Gokarn emphasized in March 2011, “Establishing a relationship with first- time consumers of financial products and services offers the opportunity to leverage this relationship into a wider set of financial transactions as at least some of these consumers move steadily up the income ladder. In other words, the commercial viability and profitability of a financial inclusion strategy need not be viewed only from the perspective of immediacy. … The social costs and consequences of badly conceived and executed inclusion strategy could be enormous. We need to bring all relevant knowledge and experience into the development of the strategy in order to maximize the possibility of it succeeding.” While the risks in the partnership are to be well understood and addressed, there is a definite synergy that begs to be exploited in this relationship between banks and corporates for India to achieve universal financial inclusion in its truest sense. © Indicus Analytics Pvt. Ltd., 2nd Floor, Nehru House, 4-Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002, India. E-mail: indic@indicus.net, Web: www.indicus.net The support of ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ is gratefully acknowledged.