Few things from my side: > We are trying to understand financial needs of migrant workers: > > Do they have bank accounts?
Many do, now. Those that are hired as security guards by an agency typically get paid (in urban areas) by the agency through bank accounts - the guards in two complexes I lived in were paid this way. Workers at construction sites get paid in cash, but in large constructions they might choose to pay by cheque - because of robberies that happen on pay day. I have heard (anecdotally) of someone who paid wages part in cash and part into a village account of the family of the worker, but this was many many years ago. > Problems faced by them in opening bank accounts esp on KYC front RBI has mandated a lower KYC requirement for accounts whose average balances are likely to be less than 50,000. This lower requirement can even mean no PAN and an address proof signed by even part-time employers (including for household help) which can be used to open a no-frills account. However KYC is a major pain - both ID proof and address proof are difficult to get. In this context aadhar helps but getting an aadhar card could be difficult too. > How do they send money home? Lots of ways. The standard is for people to send money through someone else travelling back. Once in Gurgaon, a huge truck was hired to send back goods home to a village in Bengal, by bengali migrant workers, and there was this guy collecting cash also to give back home and writing stuff in a register. I was fascinated - all of them had split the cost of hte truck and there was a 10% fee for the cash transfer. Another common thing is prepaid currency. You buy a prepaid scratch card, call up a shopkeeper in a village and he uses the currency for his use (or sells it to people coming to his shop) and gives the family there the money minus his cut. There's also money orders from the post office. But the bank system is by far the best - if the folks in the village have an account. > Do they have banks in their villages? I've heard of 5-10km walks for branches in the outer rural areas, and I've seen the bank mapping data for branches in India and there are HUGE HUGE gaps. So I suppose some will have banks, some won't. > Do they get any loans there? I honestly doubt it. If you see the credit/deposit ratio of the underbanked districts in the country, it skews on the side of deposits. However my view isn't by a statistical average - it's by eyeballing the data. > Do they need micro insurance? Yes. Most such jobs are dangerous. The need is greater for health and disability rather than death. ALl insurers are supposed to carry a micro (life) insurance product. Typically Rs. 100 for Rs. 10,000 worth of insurance. But it's not sold hard. In large construction sites they carry some layer of protection through ESI but no one gets proper care at an ESI hospital it seems. > Do they need any micro saving products? They do, but nearly every bank has one. Saving wise they have post office deposits which might make the most sense. Now the better-off have the National Pension Scheme where the government has promised to deposit Rs. 1,000 per year for three years (this current one is the last) if people open accounts. (but this is aretirement scheme) Even mutual funds are supposed to have accounts for contributions in multiples of Rs. 100. However they don't give this kind of scheme too much focus. Cheers, Deepak
