India's leading financial services companies have rallied together to help bridge the country's digital divide and provide tens of millions of financially excluded with a simplified way to open a bank account and access financial services. The service, 'Saral Money', is a Visa 'Instant-Account' linked to an individual's Aadhaar.
Once an individual receives an Aadhaar, they are automatically ready to be issued a Visa Instant Account – simplifying the KYC criteria. Prior to this, customers would have had to provide numerous documents to fulfill the banks’ KYC requirement. Once enrolled, the customer can then use Saral Money to make purchases, send money, or receive government disbursements at existing ATM, point of sale terminals, and the proposed micro ATMs.
Uttam Nayak, Group Country Manager - India and South Asia, Visa, said “This is a perfect example of how the public and private sector have come together to overcome the multifaceted challenges of Acquiring, Acceptance, Activation and Awareness and to develop India’s payment ecosystem. India is now well placed to lead the way with an affordable and scalable payments solution for all its citizens.”
It is also the first coordinated investment in developing a financial inclusion and e-payment ecosystem for India. The pioneering joint initiative is aimed at combining Visa’s network technology, the government’s reach and the banks’ extensive facilities to drive the Indian Government’s vision of empowering millions of financially under-served Indians with a financial identity.
