FINO ties up with ACCESS

B D Narayankar

THE ASSOCIATION will help tier two and tier three MFIs in building capacity and adopting management information systems (MIS) to improve efficiency in their day-to-day operations. FINO, a sectoral entity, has been created to meet the needs of banking and MFI sectors that target the rural masses in India. FINO has been a pioneer in serving low-income households in urban and rural India. It provides biometric smart cards to microfinance institutions, banks, government and insurance companies; it also serves as business correspondent of three of the biggest banks in India.

The smart card facilitates conduct of financial services like savings, loans, insurance and remittances. The card issued, after capturing the KYC (Know Your Customer) details of the customer, acts as an e-passbook, storing all account details of the customer as well as the fingerprints of the customer, which are used to validate each transaction in a secure manner.

The solution deployed by FINO will aid ACCESS Development Services in its endeavours in the MFI sector. FINO will implement its MIS systems along with its various delivery channels, including mobiles, smart cards, micro-deposit machines (MDM’s) and credit bureau services to aid Access’s AmFA partners scale up their operations to the next level.

With this technology, ACCESS Development Services’ rural customers can now access doorstep banking with an array of financial and non-financial services. According to Mr. Manish Khera, CEO, FINO Ltd, “It is a very prestigious association for us. ACCESS Development Services is known for its commitment and dedication to the microfinance sector in India. With this association we see ACCESS Development Services touching the lives of many un-banked customers. We both share a common goal - that is to serve the ‘base of the pyramid customers’. This association will provide FINO the opportunity to deliver scalable low-cost solutions and also help us in our continued long-term growth”

Says Vipin Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, ACCESS Development Services, "We are extremely delighted to be associated with FINO. The tie-up will help us strengthen our relationship with the ACCESS Microfinance Alliance (AmFA) network MFIs by providing them state-of-the-art technology in partnership with FINO and making us reach the un-banked rural masses and help bridge the demand - supply gap in financial and non-financial services. This initiative will enable us to take financial inclusion to the next level."

Financial Information Network & Operations Ltd (FINO) is a multi-bank-promoted pioneer providing smart card-based multi-application solutions to the “un-banked” in the banking, micro-finance, insurance and government sectors, primarily located in rural and semi-urban India. FINO’s ethos is to become a sectoral venture for serving the rural masses. FINO executes end-to-end turnkey solutions for LFI’s, including hardware/software, system integration, transaction network, operations, maintenance and training. FINO helps organizations improve efficiencies, considerably reducing the overall project cost thereby. In fact, FINO’s concept is to take banking and banking technology to the un-banked masses of the country.

ACCESS Development Services is a national, technical services company with focus on livelihoods and micro finance. Set up with the support of CARE and DFID in March 2006, it is designed to provide technical assistance to a rapidly-growing livelihoods and microfinance sector, working with civil society organizations, government departments, corporate sector and multilateral / bilateral agencies.

ACCESS focuses its efforts on the more under-served regions, helping to build local capacities and enhancing abilities to work to scale. ACCESS helps develop robust community-based models and demonstrate their efficacy as viable and sustainable institutional forms with a focus on building capacities of local partners in a region. Based on its knowledge and practice, ACCESS has developed a strategy on Livelihoods and Business Development Services, focusing on an inclusive value chain approach and works within a few sub-sectors - those in which the poor are engaged and those that have a potential.

Source: Meri News

D&B expects RBI to cut policy rates in near future

B D Narayankar

In an endeavor to maintain domestic macroeconomic and financial stability amidst turmoil in the global financial markets, RBI has announced a slew of measures which include cut in CRR, repo rate and SLR.

“The recent cut in the policy rates have reduced the cost of borrowing for banks which they are likely to pass on to their customers in terms of lower PLR. This might provide some required impetus to the investment activity and stimulate demand in the long run,” stated Kaushal Sampat, COO, Dun & Bradstreet India.

“However, the current slump in the exports demand and subdued domestic demand conditions coupled with credit crunch faced by the corporates will adversely impact the industrial production in the near future. We therefore expect IIP growth to moderate and remain close to 5.1% during FY09,” he added.

Sampat further said, “Given the increasing downside risks to the growth momentum coupled with the tight liquidity conditions we expect RBI to cut CRR and repo rate by 50 basis points each in near future."

Reduction in CRR and SLR, coupled with the first installment of agriculture debt waiver scheme, led to augmentation of liquidity to the extent of Rs 2,050 billion. This apart, net injection of Rs 9,279 billion through repo window during Oct-2008 and repurchase of MSS bonds worth Rs 200 billion by the Central Bank helped to ease liquidity pressures in the system, thereby leading call rates to ease.

While a severe liquidity crunch was witnessed in the banking system, bank credit continued to remain robust – registering a growth of 29.03% as on 24-Oct-08 as against 24.78% as on 26-Sep-08.

The substantial increase in bank credit can in part be attributed to drying up of external financing route for corporate sector due to global liquidity crunch and the rise in risk aversion amongst international investors. External commercial borrowing by Indian companies amounted to US$ 8.47 bn during H1 FY09 as against US$ 11.13 bn during H1 FY08.

Further, the domestic stock markets have been in a bearish mode during the last few months, making it difficult for the corporates to raise funds from this route and thereby increasing their recourse to the banking system for raising funds.

Further, high input costs coupled with the rising interest rates have adversely impacted the growth momentum during the first half of the current fiscal as is evident from the slowdown in IIP growth to 4.94% during H1 FY09 as compared to 9.49% during H1
FY08.

Even growth in capital goods production has almost halved to 10.76% during H1 FY09 as compared to 20.05% during HI FY08 which is indicative of moderation in investment activity across industries.

However, going forward, easing interest rates backed by the RBI's easy monetary policy stance are likely to help the corporates to raise cheaper funds domestically and would provide some impetus to investment activity in the long run.

Nonetheless, subdued demand conditions in the domestic economy and a slump in exports growth owning to slowdown in global economy are likely to hamper the industrial production in near future. D&B therefore expects IIP growth to moderate and remain close to 5.1% during FY09.

Article Source: http://www.saching.com

Metropolis plans pathology labs across globe

B D Narayankar

Diagnostic chain Metropolis plans to make its presence felt in international market by setting up its pathological labs in Thailand, South Asia, South-East Asia, West Asia, Africa, Latin America, Bangladesh, Nepal and China.

The company is already in talks with authorities of an existing lab in Thailand to acquire the same and open its new upgraded state-of-the-art pathology lab next month.

It also plans to take the same acquisition route to establish centres in Nepal and Bangladesh. "The centres will work in a hub-and-spoke model with collection centres at different parts of the countries," Metropolis managing director G S K Velu said.

Metropolis seeks to network South Asia, South-East Asia, West Asia and Africa by 2009 end. It already has labs in Sri Lanka, South Africa, Seychelles and UAE.

Metropolis is planning to upgrade some of the existing centres to tertiary labs and add more collection centres. Over the next two years, Metropolis will add 80 more collection centres in Sri Lanka and a few more in Dubai and South Africa.

In the second expansion phase beyond 2010, Metropolis will explore opportunities in Latin America and China.

In the domestic market, the company is looking at acquiring a few labs in the north and eastern parts of the country. Until the end of this fiscal year, Metropolis will spend Rs 50 crore on its expansion plans — both domestic and international.

Meanwhile, Metropolis is planning to set up a radiology referral chain with a pan-India presence.

For setting up high-end referral radiology chain, Metropolis will look for options, including opening own centres, public-private partnerships and collaboration with multinational as well as domestic entities.

Metropolis will go for a separate capital expenditure (capex) funding for the new venture, mainly through private equity, Velu informed. The company requires a capex of at least Rs 250 crore for having pan-India presence. "Radiology services are highly capital-intensive due to high equipment cost involved. Each centre costs at least Rs 20 crore," he said.

There is a huge opportunity for radiology services, especially outsourced work from hos­pitals, including the state-run ones. "We are already managing labs of 30 hospitals," Velu said.

The company-owned centres may come up along with the existing pathological centres. In three years, Metropolis hopes to have a chain of 20 centres with high-end equipment, including CT scanners, positron emission tomography (PET) machines and mammography instruments.

In order to expand its pathological testing chain, Metropolis will spend Rs 200 crore until the end of financial year 2010. The company will explore both debt and equity routes to execute its plans.

Article Source: http://www.saching.com

First NobleGuide surgery performed in Pune

B D Narayankar

Sporting a beautiful and wonderful set of working teeth is everybody's dream, including elderly people. They would certainly love to get the smile back on their faces. This wouldn't have been possible a few years back as there were hardly any hi-tech dental solutions. But with Nobel Biocare's dental solutions there is now a good chance for even septuagenarians to get back their smiles on their faces.

Seventy-year-old Dattatray Barve was the first Punekar to get back his self-confidence after he underwent the dental implant surgery using Nobel Biocare's NobelGuide for full-mouth rehabilitation.

Thirty years back, Dattatray had lost all his teeth due to periodontal disease. Since there was no other alternative, he opted for removable dentures and changed them six times. During this period, these dentures gave him multiple problems - he could not eat comfortably and made him feel older. The constant slipping of dentures caused a great deal of embarrassment.

However, after undergoing the dental implant surgery for all his missing teeth with Prosthesis placed on eleven Nobel Biocare implants, Dattatray is delighted to get back his smile and eating comfort. "I am delighted to have performed NobelGuide surgery on my father. It has brought the smile back and gave heaps of self-confidence to him. People who have had traditional dentures before getting a fixed bridge often describe NobelGuide surgery as an overwhelming and positive experience," Dr Nitin Barve, Dattatray's son-dentist, who performed the first NobelGuide surgery in Pune, said.

"Modern medical science has made it possible to have permanent dental solutions that don’t embarrass you. When all teeth are missing, or in such condition that they need to be replaced, a fixed bridge anchored to dental implants provides the best permanent solution. Today, it is possible to replace a full jaw with Nobel implants and kiss goodbye to dentures," Dr Nitin added.

So, what are you waiting for? Chuck those old and uncomfortable dentures and go for a permanent dental solution provided by Nobel Biocare. The help is not too far away. You can log on to www.nobelsmile.in to find out the right kind of dentist closest to you.

How do dentists perform surgery?

Step 1 - He determines what needs to be done and prepares both himself and patient for the treatment.

Step 2 – Plans surgery for placing dental implants, using NobelGuide.

Step 3 - Installs dental implants to replace the missing teeth.

Step 4 - Installs the fixed dentures on top of the implants.

Step 5 – Patients are now set to eat anything.

Article Source: http://www.saching.com

Now hire a professional matchmaker

B D Narayankar

IN THIS era of competition, we get hardly any time to attend to our needs. One of the basic and most important decisions of our life is to select the right life partner. When you begin your efforts, you pity your amateurism in finding a partner. Under the circumstances, it’s advisable that you hire a trained matchmaker.

Services of such matchmakers can be availed of by prospective brides through BM Privilege, a unique personalised service that addresses the needs of the singles who do not have time or the opportunity to search and meet potential partners through usual channels. The service was recently launched in Chennai.

Members who opt for BM Privilege service will be assigned a personal matchmaker, who will either search and identify compatible profiles or complete the initial rounds of contacting profiles. Members are given the freedom to choose either of the services.

Murugavel Janakiraman, chief executive officer and founder, BharatMatrimony.com and the Consim Group said, "BM Privilege has been developed after taking into account the customer needs and it is expected to take matchmaking to a completely new level.”
“We have been in the business of matchmaking for over a decade now and we take pride in delivering the level of service that we promise our members. People want privacy and personalised service. BM Privilege is an answer to the ’personalised service generation’, who are looking for a quick and hassle-free way of finding a life partner," he said.

Source:

EMRI set to redefine emergency services in Karnataka

B D Narayankar

A KID while crossing the road at Whitefield is knocked off by a whizzing car. Next moment he is lying at the roadside fighting for his life. After a while, a hospital ambulance arrives at the scene from Shivajinagar only to find him dead. Like this kid, there are approximately 50,000 people dying without even getting a pre-medical treatment in Bengaluru. This happens because there are inadequate numbers of ambulances owned by city hospitals and deployed at vantage points.

Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) is here to redefine the concept of providing emergency medical services in Bengaluru, in particular and Karnataka at large. The ’Arogya Kavacha-108’ medical, police and fire services, was launched by former President A P J Abdul Kalam in Bengaluru last week. The service is a public-private initiative.

Accident victims will get the most necessary pre-medical services at a quick pace. The caller need not wait too long for getting connected to an EMRI centre. All the calls will be answered by phone jockeys within two rings.

The 108 Emergency Response Service is a toll free number and callers can access it from their landline and mobile phones. "Once the caller dials 108 to report an emergency, the call lands at the Emergency Response Centre in Magadi Road, where at least 35 phone jockeys are working. The jockeys will collect the information regarding the kind of emergency and the location and ask for ambulance, a fire tender or police vehicle to be sent as appropriate," said EMRI chief executive officer (CEO) M Venkat Chengavalli.

EMRI chief operation officer (COO, Karnataka) Bharat Radhakrishnan said that the deployment of 32 ambulances at various vantage points of the city enables EMRI response team to reach the disaster spot in few minutes. "Likewise, we have deployed 34 more ambulances in 17 districts of Karnataka like Tumkur, Chitradurga, Davangere and Bellary, in the first phase," he said.

Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa said on an average the government will deploy one ambulance for a lakh people. By next March, Karnataka hopes to increase the fleet to 110 and by 210, the service will cover the entire state with 517 ambulances in place in various districts," he announced.

Elucidating on the state-of-the-art ambulances, Radhakrishnan added that the state-of-the-art ambulances can nearly handle any emergency situation. The vans are equipped with medical equipment ranging from defibrillators and ventilators, to extrication tools.

There will be a pilot (the driver) and one emergency medical technician. The EMT will give pre-hospital care under the guidance of emergency response centre physicians, as in pregnancy cases.

Further adding, Radhakrishnan said ’Dial 108’ service has received tremendous response. In just 24-hour span since its inauguration, the service has received a whopping 20,000 calls, of which 100 were effective. Around 35 calls were related to road traffic accidents (RTA), pregnancy cases and cardiac attacks, while ten were police cases like robbery.

Source: Meri News

Now catching a train is as easy as a flight

B D Narayankar

WORRIED OVER airfare hikes? There is an option. Book a train reservation. Taking a train, now a days, is as easy as catching a flight. The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)’s magic number "139 - Rail Sampark" has made life easier for travellers.

The inquisitive traveller will get all railway-related information within three rings without any interruptions or disconnections as before. They just need to dial 139 from any fixed line or mobile phone.

Travellers can get answers for their queries quickly because the call centre executives stick to the set questionnaire drafted by IRCTC. They don’t ask questions to callers other than what is listed. "This prevents reducing their Average Handling Time (AHT). Our aim is to give callers information within two minutes," says Rajini Hasija, IRCTC Information Technology General Manager.

The recent hike in air fares forced many to shift allegiance to trains. Sales of First AC and Second AC tickets shot up from 27 per cent to 43 per cent, between August 2007 and 2008. It was a time to rejoice, but IRCTC did not sit on its laurels. It instead focused on challenges thrown up by good revenue performance. First, they started working towards providing accurate and fast information to travellers.


The 24x7 line, operational since July 2007, enables PNR enquiries, all-India current train positions, fare information and ticketing. "It is as easy as taking a flight. I was surprised when I had to make a business trip to Bangalore by train," says T P Shaktivel, chief corporate officer at Unique Infoway, a Delhi-based IT company.

The 139 service, whose call centres are in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, is a revolutionary concept. It can be a good benchmark for public sector units’ serving customers, not only in terms of services provisioning, but also in terms of the business model," says Nilaya Varma, associate director at PricewaterhouseCoopers,

Already 139 employs about 2,000 people and draws over six lakh calls a day, which is expected to rise to 2 million calls by the year end. The system has the capacity to handle an astonishing 20 million calls a day, and more. "It’s a service that is a revolution in the making. It will change the way a customer interacts with the Railways," says Nalin Shinghal, managing director of IRCTC.

Another atribute which other PSU’s can get inspiration from is IRCTC’s indebatable emergency services, despite the 300 pre cent redundancy. This was evident during a series of agitations led by Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla.

Soon IRCTC is planning to route calls to the next closest destination if the network called is dead or busy.

Indian Railways is not incurring any capital or operational ex­penditure for the process, which is borne by the franchisee — a consortium of the Modi Group-promoted Bharat BPO, BSNL, Spanco Telesystems, Stracon Back Office Solutions and the Omnia Group — with a 10-year contract.

"The revenue potential is humungous," says Manish Sharma, associate director at KPMG. "If infrastructure and SLAs (service level agree­ments) are good, the railways could be attracting short-distance travellers on road routes such as Delhi-Chandigarh or Chennai-Pondicherry."

By the end of the year, premium services such as SMS alerts, call backs and fax, and value-added services such as tourism products, hotels and car rentals will be offered on another three-digit number.

There’s more. "We are awaiting government clearance so that customers can show their tickets on mobile phones and not carry a print-out," says Praveen Kumar, CEO of the Omnia Group. But both Hasija and Kumar acknowledge that improved basic services are not intended as revenue generators. "If we can establish a credible connect in basic services, customers will be happy to pay for value-added services," says Kumar. They sure will.

Certainly Indian Railways piloted by Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav is in full steam to revamp its dark image into a twinkling one.

Source: Meri News