Jammu, Jan 13: ICICI Bank Ltd, India’s largest private sector Bank and Vodafone Essar Ltd, one of country’s largest Mobile Network Operators, today announced a joint initiative to drive financial inclusion in India.
 Under this tie-up, both entities will offer a bouquet of financial products such as savings accounts, pre-paid instruments and credit products through a mobile phone based platform.
 This partnership, according to statement issued here today, is expected to bring the un-banked and under-banked population into the organised financial services framework and assist in furthering the electronic payments market in India.
 ICICI Bank will leverage the distribution strength of Vodafone, which manages over 1.5 million retail points for acquiring customers and servicing them. 
 Speaking on the alliance, Ms Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd said, “We are very excited about the partnership with Vodafone, which will help ICICI Bank in deepening its base within the country. Mobile penetration is growing exponentially in the country of which the rural market forms a major contributor.” 
   Marten Pieters, Managing Director & CEO, Vodafone Essar, said: “the RBI move to allow for-profit companies to be Business Correspondents is a welcome move that will enable the population better access to financial services. With our reach and ability to connect to customers, we are uniquely positioned to aid the financial inclusion agenda of the Government of India and RBI. We are pleased to work with ICICI Bank, which has always strived to offer innovative products to its customers.”
 Both parties will work out the specific arrangements in the coming few weeks and chart out a go-to-market plan.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:00:00 IST