Indian Bank Ltd. has awarded Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. a contract to assist in a smart card-based financial-inclusion project for India’s rural villages, the Chennai-based financial announced Dec. 16.
The organizations have signed a three-year agreement worth 850 million rupees (US$18.7 million or 14 million euros) for the project, which will enable Indian Bank to offer banking services in 5,500 rural villages located primarily in southern India, the bank noted a press release.
Under the agreement, Tata Consultancy will provide the technology infrastructure, handheld devices and business correspondents to help the bank extend its coverage to consumers living in the rural areas. The handheld devices will support biometric authentication verification, the adopted model in India’s rural-banking sector for financial inclusion of the illiterate and the poor.
The project could help to bring banking services to 2.3 million citizens by offering them the chance to open accounts that support funds withdrawals, remittances, funds transfers and check services.
The two companies declined to comment beyond what they noted in the press release.
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