=== Trends ===
==== India - A consumption boom is taking place ====
* According to study by Bank of Baroda, India is riding a CAGR growth in excess of 35% for the last 5 years in 'retail loans' category
[[Image:Credit boom in India.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Consumption boom]]
==== Expensive weddings ====
* [[Image:Expensive weddings.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Wedding Insurance]]
==== Gold - Helping India's middle class create assets while enjoying lifestyle====
* Jewellers in India give lose guarantees that upon return of the jewellery, value of the metal in jewellery adjusted for workmanship costs will be redeemed. This acts as a big incentive for people to invest in jewellery as principal amount is secure. However, there is no formal guarantee mechanism to ensure the contract.
==== Microfinance ====
[[Image:PersFin Microfinance.jpeg|thumb|center|250px|Microfinance is a major trend in India]]
* 1.4 million microfinance groups in India
* Over 20 million members for microfinance groups
* According to [http://www.uncdf.org/english/microfinance/newsletter/pages/2005_06/news_india.php one estimate], 30 million non-agricultural enterprises and 50 million landless households in India collectively need approximately $30 billion credit annually
* Microfinance is growing in South India, which contrasts with the stagnation in Eastern, Central and North Eastern India
* Downside: Microfinance involves very high transaction costs given the small amounts of money involved for each loan, which necessitates high transaction costs
==== Peer-to-peer banking - Emplowering C2C commerce using a finance intermediary like PaisaPay ====
* Paisa pay from ebay has empowered C2C payments
* People pay EMI's of small amounts, in a group, and then wait for purchase of a consumer product when their chance comes
[[Image:PersFin Kitty.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Kitty for consumption]]
==== Islamic banking - Shariat compliant products ====
[[Image:Parasoli Finance.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Shariat stocks index]]
=== Ideas ===
==== Microsavings instruments ====
* Tie up with telephone firms to create microsaving pre-paid cards
* In such cards, 10% of the amount paid will get credited to the payees account as a saving
* Compounding of such savings after several years can yield high returns
==== Education loans ====
* Tie up with educational institutions INCLUDING Provide loans for primary schoolsand high school education, besides college education[[Image:PersFin School.jpg|thumb|center|300px|Loans for primary and high-school education]]
==== Wedding loans ====
* Provide cheap loans by tying up with wedding organizers, caterers etc. The loans get cheaper due to bulk discounts on prices offered by them.
==== Streamlining microfinance ====
==== Loans based on gold ====
* Already covered under trends
== Insurance ==
* Text:
==== Rural Insurance - an opportunity or a risk? ====
[[Image: Watson Wyatt.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Rural Insurance penetration is increasing]]
=== Trends ===
====Credit card penetration====
[[Image:Credit card per 1000.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Credit card penetration]]
==== Increasing savings rate ====
* Picture:Savings as percentage of GDP was 29.1% in FY 2004 and 25.9% in FY 2005* TextWith a strong GDP growth, rising salaries, and low social security, savings rate are likely to rise even further[[Image: Savings trend rate.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Savings rate]]
==== Increasing purchasing power ====
==== Rural demand for credit ====
* [http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQkcvMjAwNi8wOC8wOCNBcjAxNTAz&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom Lack of access to savings mechanisms and credit is one of the biggest challenges for villagers in India.] * According to a World Bank study, in Andhra Pradesh, 59% of rural households lack access to deposit accounts and 79% don’t have borrowing facility from the organised financial sector. Bankers too complain that though the rural potential is huge, they don’t have enough knowledge about the rural customer.[[Image:PersFin Rural India.jpg|thumb|center|400px|Rural India needs $30 billion in credit]]
==== Remittances ====
<table align=center> <tr> <td>[[Image:PersFin WesternUnion.jpeg|thumb|center|150px|Reimbursements to India are growing]]</td> <td>[[Image:PersFin WesternUnion 2.jpeg|thumb|center|400px|[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Trillion-dollar_investment_hope_spurs_govt_into_action/articleshow/889333.cms India receives $23 billion a year in foreign remittances]]]</td></tr></table>* [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Trillion-dollar_investment_hope_spurs_govt_into_action/articleshow/889333.cms India receives $23 billion a year in foreign remittances]
==== COD (???)====
==== Growth in retail ====
==== Mobile phones ====* Mobile phone and technology penetration usage is exploding in India with subscriber numbers growing by several percentage points ''each month''[[Image:PersFin Cell Phone Numbers.jpg|thumb|center|450px|140 million cell phone users in India]] ==== Payments through SMS ==== [[Image:Payments through SMS.jpg|thumb|center|500px|Payments made through SMS - Paymate]]
=== Ideas ===
==== Debit cards ====* Picture:* Text: Linked to checking accounts
==== Mobile ATM ====
* PictureInnovative concepts, such as a [http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQkcvMjAwNi8wOC8wOCNBcjAxNTAz&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom mobile ATM machine] are being tried out at the moment.* Text[[Image:PersFin Rural ATM.jpg|thumb|center|400px|[http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JQkcvMjAwNi8wOC8wOCNBcjAxNTAz&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom State Bank of India/Microsoft experiment for rural ATM was tested with 20,000 villagers in 5 villages]]]
==== Credit cards linked to US accounts ====
* Credit cards for family members in India based on linked to credit-rating of NRINon-Resident Indian family member (in the US or elsewhere)* [[Image:PersFin Credit Card India.jpg|thumb|center|350px|Credit cards in India based on international family member's credit rating]]
==== COD for online shopping (???) ====
==== Mobile phone credit cards ====
* Sony's [http://www.sony.net/Products/felica/csy/jre.html Felica] system combines mobile phones with credit card style payment capabilities
* With 140 million cell phones, but less than half as many credit cards, cell phones offer a great possibility for improving credit-card penetration in India
[[Image:PersFin Mobile phone credit card.jpg|thumb|center|400px|Mobile phone used as credit card]]