MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: State Bank of India and Oxigen Private Limited Install First 80 Microfinance Kiosks in Mumbai and Delhi

The State Bank of India (SBI), a state-owned financial services company in India, and Oxigen, an Indian bill-payment and prepaid-recharge company, recently announced details of their joint program to install banking kiosks in local grocery shops. The companies have installed 50 kiosks in the Dharavi slum of Mumbai, as well as 30 kiosks in Delhi, with plans to install 1,000 more in Mumbai and 870 additional kiosks in Maharashtra state. Plans include the installation of kiosks across Bihar and Uttar Pradesh by October 2010 [1]. These kiosks, situated in local grocery stores called kirana stores, provide customers with “no-frills” account, deposit, withdrawal and transfer services. The accounts, which can be opened only with photo identification and proof of address, have no minimum balance requirements.

MicroCapital first reported this partnership when it was announced in July 2010 [2].

By Lindsey Shaughnessy, Research Associate

About Oxigen: Oxigen, founded in India in 2004, is a bill-payment, ticketing and prepaid-recharge services company. Oxigen provides recharge services for mobile phones and televisions, conference calling services, calling cards, telecommunications and utility bill payment services, travel ticketing, entertainment recharge, hotel bookings, mobile media and digital entertainment, mainly through point of sale terminals, computers, handsets and text messages (SMS). No official financial information on Oxigen is available.

About the State Bank of India (SBI): The State Bank of India (SBI), founded in 1955 by an act of Parliament, is a state-owned bank and financial services company in India. SBI provides investment, consumer, commercial, retail and private banking services, as well as asset management, pension, mortgage and credit card services. For fiscal year 2009, SBI reports total assets of INR 9.64 trillion (the equivalent of USD 210 billion) and total deposits of INR 7.42 trillion (the equivalent of USD 162 billion), a return on assets of 1.04 percent and a return on equity of 15 percent.

Sources and Additional Resources:

[1] Rupee Times, “Branch banking reaches the local grocery store: SBI”, September 16, 2010. http://www.rupeetimes.com/news/personal_loan/branch_banking_reaches_the_local_grocery_store_sbi_4226.html

[2] MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: “State Bank of India Teams Up with Oxigen Pvt Ltd and Sahyog Microfinance Foundation to Offer Kiosk-based Banking Model”, August 5, 2010. https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-state-bank-of-india-teams-up-with-oxigen-pvt-ltd-and-sahyog-microfinance-foundation-to-offer-kiosk-based-banking-model-2/

MicroCapital’s Microfinance Universe profile: Oxigen

MicroCapital’s Microfinance Universe profile: State Bank of India (SBI)

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