By Rob Katz
Last Friday the Financial Times reported on Citigroup’s plan to introduce biometric ATMs to serve India’s poor and illiterate communities. The machines use biometric identification (thumbprints) and voiceover technology to let illiterate customers access their bank accounts. The program is called Citibank Pragati, and it is essentially savings accounts, not microfinance or loans. Citibank says its Pragati accounts will have no minimum balance requirements and no charges.
This is not the first time a financial services company has reached out to low-income customers with biometeric ATMs. The Bolivian bank PRODEM introduced similar machines in 1999, as covered in WRI’s What Works case studies. Like the Pragati machines, PRODEM ATMs use color-coded screens and voiceover technology to serve illiterate customers. For example, a voice instructs “Touch the blue button for withdrawals” in lieu of a button labeled “Withdrawal.” The ATMs let customers select Spanish, Quechua, or Aymara, the three most common languages in Bolivia.
Citibank’s Pragati initiative brings the PRODEM model to India. But what sets Pragati apart from PRODEM is that Citibank is the world’s largest financial services company. And now Citibank is testing a proven model in a new market. If it works, they could roll out similar services elsewhere in dozens of other emerging markets.
Rob Katz, AssociateRobert Katz researches private sector approaches to development as part of the Markets and Enterprise Program. He is a principal analyst of household survey data for “The Next 4 Billion,” and managing editor of NextBillion.net.
