Opinions vary. While most
banks in India have in place their biometric smart card, handheld biometric POS
devices for authentication and transaction, GPRS-enabled mobile phones and core
banking solutions, Louwke van der
Steen, Country Manager at Logica for India and SAARC firmly emphasizes that “…India
needs to adopt technology more rapidly, especially on the mobile fronts.”
Indian banks spend an average of Rs 150 crore
on internet banking and developing banking software and hardware. The World
bank has also allocated a whopping automation fund whereby banks like Dena Bank,
Bank of India, Bank of Baroda each can mobilize Rs 100 crore. This augurs well
for the Indian banking scenario so that it can rewrite ground-breaking rules
much like PayPal integrating micropayments into its Facebook application as
though building the world’s first virtual global currency.
Another interesting factor is how
this translates for the average urban Indian comfortable with the ICICI
launched iMobile, to pay bills, check balance, locate an ATM and order a
checkbook. Surprisingly, our culture that does not permit us the glossy
‘spend-now-pay-later’ rhetoric provides us with perks we have taken for
granted. While our US counterparts have to restrict calls to customer care and
ATM transactions to just two in a month; we enjoy unlimited privileges; most of
which play a major role in striking the right work-life balance.
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