Hi Subramani: Below is the part 2 of that same article, and this time I believe you will get the source too.
Shiv A Case for Universally Accessible Banking Services - Part-2 logo Published on EnableAll.org ( http://www.enableall.org) A Case for Universally Accessible Banking Services - Part-2 By atulpant Created 2006-06-05 04:14 Part-1 of this article is at: node/453 [1] The Social Imperative There is a perhaps a larger principle at play here - is denial of acceptance of signature, denial of a fundamental civil right. I am not sure of the answer and will leave this for authorities on Civil Rights to ponder. Another larger principle at play here is that of financial inclusion, which is a sub-set of social inclusion. In the global context, United Nation's charter on disability, states: Block quote start "The purpose of the World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons is to promote effective measures for prevention of disability, rehabilitation and the realization of the goals of 'full participation' of disabled persons in social life and development, and of ''equality''. Block quote end This means opportunities equal to those of the whole population and an equal share in the improvement in living conditions resulting from social and economic development. These concepts should apply with the same scope and with the same urgency to all countries, regardless of their level of development." Further United Nation's 'Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities' states: Block quote start People with disabilities - as citizens of their societies - should have the same rights and obligations as all other citizens. It is ultimately the responsibility of all Governments to ensure that disabled people: - live as dignified and independent a life-style as possible within the community; Block quote end Block quote start - take an active part in the general, social and economic development of society; Block quote end Block quote start - receive education, medical care and social services within the ordinary structures of their societies. Block quote end Governments can enact laws to guarantee equality and to prevent discrimination. The cost of denying equal opportunities to persons with disabilities is high not only in financial terms, but in the loss of their contribution to society. In the Indian context, equal access to banking services can be derived from the Constitution which, "solemnly resolves to secure to all its citizens. equality of Status and of Opportunity" and bestows the Fundamental Right to Equality, which states, Block quote start "No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public." Block quote end Contextually put, what access to "wells, tanks and bathing ghats" was when the Constitution was drafted, access to banking and financial services or equal access to electronic information is today. The People with Disabilities Act, 1995 does not say anything specifically about provision of equal access to services by the private sector, nor does it specifically cover equal access to electronic information. This Act needs to be amended and the concerned Ministry is currently soliciting public opinion on the Act. I sincerely hope the new avatar will be more encompassing and progressive. Ministry of Finance, Reserve Bank of India, Indian Bank's Association and related organizations have a moral and social responsibility to ensure that all citizens of India, including people with disabilities, get equal access to banking and financial services, so that they can improve quality of their life, live independently and contribute to building the nation. As food for thought I would add that it took a World War to catalyse disability movements in the West. In USA, Korean and Vietnam war brought the issue of civil rights of disabled in the open. Will we in India be more civilised about bringing equality or will we need to go to war for this. The Business Imperative When the traditional markets of the FMCG industry were saturating they started looking at rural markets, making innovations in the 4Ps (product, place, price and promotion) to cater to the specific needs and challenges of the rural markets. Technology companies have started realizing that their traditional markets are saturating and they are looking at low-income segments as next new adopters of technology. Hewlett Packard has an i-Community initiative in Kuppam district of Andhra Pradesh, where they are experimenting with leveraging technology for providing livelihoods. HP has also experimented with voice-recognition based railway reservation system, targeted at illiterate audience. Enlightened and future oriented banks in India may well consider people with disabilities as a potent market segment. Disability statistics in India is hard to come by, thus I cannot hazard a guess on the numbers that constitute this segment or what kind of discretionary income they possess and how lucrative they are as a deposit base. Or are they a possible market looking for credit - entrepreneurs looking for loans or regular income earners looking at plastic money or car or home loans. However, broad trends suggest that people with disabilities are a potential market because the kind of facilitation they require is similar to that required by elderly citizens, whose senses diminish with age. The elderly segment, with encashment of their provident fund, insurance and other investments, is certainly a segment with decent financial prospects, lucrative enough for banks to offer their various services. I must add here that while I am not a visually disabled person myself, this article is an investment into my own future because when with age, my senses diminish hopefully banking and other services in India will be more accommodating and understanding of my special needs! If 'people with disabilities' forming a market seems far-fetched, consider Grameen Bank and its success in micro-finance. In 1976, when the founder of Grameen Bank, Prof. Muhammad Yunus started, the banks he approached for seeking micro-credit for rural poor, turned him away because the intended recipients were not credit worthy (as per bank's definition) and had no collateral to offer. Today, with persistence and innovation, Grameen Bank has lent more than US $5 billion to over 5 million people. The initiative has led to a blossoming micro-finance industry, which according to the Micro-credit Summit Campaign Report, as of Dec. 31, 2004, some 3,200 micro-credit institutions reported reaching more than 92 million clients. Prof C K Prahalad's work on servicing 'bottom-of-the-pyramid' markets and success stories like Aravind Eye Hospital and HLL's Shakti Ammas, further inspire confidence that people with disabilities could be looked as a potential market for banking and financial services. Prof Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School explains in his book, "The Innovator's Solution", that large incumbent companies focus on servicing the high-end customers. Example, mobile phones constantly make phones that are lighter, have more features, longer battery life and are usually either more expensive or more complex to use. This he describes as 'sustaining innovation'. In such a scenario, a new player, who has lesser financial muscle, cannot take the incumbent head-on. Instead, the new player should focus on the under or over-served customers. Say, people who need less complex or cheaper mobile phones. If the new player can formulate a disruptive innovation and target non-consumption, then the chances of success are very high because the incumbent will most likely choose not to fight simply because its high cost-structures won't allow it play a low-value game. Example, will Intel make a 286 chip today? But MIT Media Labs, with Dr Nicholas Negraponte, is working a $100 laptop, targeted at students from low-income families. This laptop requires much less computing power than Intel's latest chips like Centrino and hence the cost of production can be significantly lower, while huge demand makes the business model very viable. Intel may not be in a position to develop low-end chips because of its cost structure but a smaller or new chip making company could leverage the mega opportunity for low-cost computing. Prof. C K Prahalad and Prof. Gary Hamel in their book, 'Competing for the Future', suggest a similar model. They explain that new market opportunities do not lie in servicing the 'articulated need of the served market', but in addressing the 'unarticulated needs of the served market' or 'articulated needs of the un-served market' or 'unarticulated need of the un-served market'. Innovative banks in India may well consider looking at disruptive innovation to service the articulated and unarticulated need of the un-served market of 'people with visual and other disabilities' and reap the benefits of sustained returns on investment and competitive advantage through a unique differentiation of being first Indian bank to offer "Universal Banking Services". Keeping in view the tremendous social and technological changes, while IBA should revisit its Model Deposit Policy, innovative among the banks should note that IBA says, "With liberalization in the financial system and deregulation of interest rates, banks are now free to formulate deposit products within the broad guidelines issued by RBI". Thus, IBA's Model Deposit Policy is only a guideline and innovation with-in its purview seems very much possible. It is for the bank's to realise and leverage a new market segment. Conclusion It is imperative that banking policies in India be amended to allow people with visual disabilities to open and operate a bank account independently. Without this crucial first step, financial inclusion that technologies like phone or internet banking, chip and pen based identification, talking ATMs and other emerging technologies like biometrics will facilitate will not happen and the financial and social gap will only widen. On the other hand, taking the first step of allowing independent bank accounts with full operational authority to visually disabled people, will lead to banking and financial services becoming universal. Which will in-turn be another step towards equality of status and opportunity, enshrined in India's constitution. Source URL: http://www.enableall.org/node/454 Links: [1] http://www.enableall.org/node/453 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Subramani L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 2:07 PM Subject: Re: [AI] depository > Hai Shiv: > > Don't know if you have mentioned the source of this article; but I am > unable to find it. Kindly let me know the source. > > Subramani > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
