i nc lu s i ve f i nanc e i nd i a re port 2014
30
CSCs have come up across the country, under such dif-
ferent labels as Pragya Kendras, Vasudha Kendras, eGram
Centres, Kidmat Centres, Akshaya Centres, MeeSeva
Kendras, etc. Some CSCs have succeeded in improving
and, in some cases, revolutionizing the communities by
creating new opportunities for socio-economic develop-
ment. This means that a specific content/ service will be
in a marketable format for its delivery by the network of
CSCs. The PMJDY has recognized the IT-enabled CSCs
as an important strategic asset in the pursuit of digital
financial inclusion.
(b) Samriddhi Pro-poor Model,
Madhya Pradesh
8
Samriddhi
9
is a financial inclusion model of government
of Madhya Pradesh through which in addition to routine
banking facilities, people are getting benefits from various
central government schemes such as pensions for BPL
families, senior citizens, destitute, disabled persons and
widows and state government’s economic assistance and
pension benefits directly to their bank accounts.
The model has been rolled out through the platform of
State Level Banking Committee (SLBC) and Department
of Panchayat & Rural Development (DP&RD). Madhya
Pradesh Financial Inclusion model (MPFI) strives to
achieve inclusive growth of rural poor with seamless in-
tegration of the front and back end. The model follows a
three-pronged approach with SAMAGRA (see Box 2.4),
Ultra Small Branches and Customer Service Points to
provide last mile access and an electronic fund manage-
ment system for achieving seamless payment transfers.
The electronic fund management system, also known
as e-FMS, for ensuring timely and correct payments to
the beneficiaries as Government to Person (G2P) has been
established. Through active coordination with various
government departments, rules and regulations for the
implementation of the schemes were simplified. Also,
disbursement structures of various schemes implemented
by different government departments were streamlined
in order to ensure that benefits are transferred to the
same bank account. e-FMS has ensured transparency in
NREGA payments.
The model has come up with ultra-small bank
branches or customer service points as the front end for
opening bank accounts, transactions and ensuring last
mile connectivity to ensure timely and accurate payments
to beneficiaries. The model has also pooled in non-core
B
OX
2.3
What is CSC?
• CSC is the Common Service Center run as a business by a village-level entrepreneur. Government of India under the national
e-governance plan has set up 140 thousand outlets. These outlets provide a range of government-to-citizen services, banking-
to-citizen services, government services such as Aadhar or PAN card, collecting electricity bills, etc., and business-to-citizen
services such as selling seeds or cattle feed. This model works on principal of PPP—Public (government), P (Private) and
P (People) partnership. The VLE (who acts as the BC agent for financial services component) constitutes the private partner
who also invests in the CSC which is run as an enterprise and acts as a change agent. Through CSCs, government expects to
bring a range of urban services to the rural space. Thus rural people need not go to pay electricity bills and need not go to
faraway places to open bank accounts.
• BASIX is an agent of the CSC SPV which has become the BC for 19 to 20 banks. They SPV has appointed Basix as the manager
of the VLEs. Government has appointed about 25 private partners as managers of the VLEs and Basix is one of them managing
the work of more than 5000 VLEs. As the BC agent on behalf of various banks, the VLE facilitates real-time banking transac-
tions similar to kiosk banking. The VLE has to have a fixed address and has to be available at that place. A bank can have a BC
network independent of the CSC channel. The CSC can be seen as another competitive channel for BC operations.
• The original plan was that one lakh CSCs will take care of 640,000 villages. So, each CSC would cover six villages. Now another
one lakh CSCs are being added with the objective that a CSC would be available at all 250,000 panchayat headquarters.
Sources
: 1. Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of
India,
Common Service Centres: Innovative Rural Microenterprises in India
.
2. Anoop Kaul, Basix, New Delhi.
