Mumbai, 20 April, 2017 (GPN) : Citi Foundation and Swadhaar FinAccess, an NGO that works with low income communities, launched the pilot for a money management app ‘Swadhaar Saathi’, amongst 180 women from low income population across Ghatkopar, Bhandup and Thane areas. These selected women will be given mobile phones and data for three months to help understand their usage pattern, the support required in furthering their usage and the enablers and limitations in using the application. Citi Foundation helped support the development of the app along with bearing the cost for the data connections required to access and use it, while the 110 handsets for the pilot project are being sponsored by FIS payment solutions.
‘Empowering women to manage finances digitally’ by Swadhaar Saathi is a program spearheaded in partnership with the Citi Foundation as part of the 2015 India Innovation Grant Program. The program – encourages women in Mumbai to increase their bank account usage. The app will capture the socio-economic information of households or individuals, will suggest appropriate financial products
The interface of the ‘Swadhaar Saathi’ app is graphic and simple and therefore can be easily used even by people with low literacy levels. The app can help keep track of their finances, help them to save for their goals, provide reminders for repayments, and suggest pension, loan, insurance and savings products for the future. Alongside the closed pilot, the application can be downloaded by other users within the Swadhaar FinAccess intervention locations in Mumbai, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The application will be available to everyone on Google Play Store after a few weeks of the pilot launch.
Veena Manakar, Founder and Director Swadhaar FinAccess said, “The digital financial infrastructure in India is being established at a blistering pace and supply of financial services for the mass market is exploding, outpacing any other market globally. The opportunity to mainstream the financially underserved is here. However, to do so, tools and trainers are needed to build the ability of consumers to use digital channels and services. The aim of our Money Management app- which has a Trainer app attached, is to help low income, low literacy clients to manage their financial health, be able to make appropriate choices and actively use formal financial services.”
Preeti Telang, CEO, Swadhaar FinAccess further added that, “The App will empower low income communities to make informed decisions when choosing products and will understand their financial health better. The app helps train the client for the digital India, and helps break the digital literacy barrier.”
Debasis Ghosh, Public Affairs Officer, Citi India said, “We believe it is important that weaker sections of our society participate and benefit from the larger digital ecosystem being created by the Government, in their journey to create a less cash society. Citi Foundation’s partnership with Swadhaar FinAccess to develop the ‘Swadhaar Saathi app’, helps to bridge the digital divide and in the long run, has the potential to become a financial planning companion for women from low income households”.
Further reiterating the commitment from Citi Foundation in furthering innovation in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) space, he said, “The India Innovation Grant Program supports the talent and ingenuity of our development sector, and we are encouraged by the constant innovation being pursued to make India a more inclusive society”
