Infy sees opportunity in co-ops, may also put Finacle on cloud

courtesy : www.dnaindia.com
an article by Sri. Praveena Sharma  04.08.2010

After putting out an offering for regional rural banks (RRBs) under its banking software product, Finacle, five quarters back,  Infosys Technologies is now eyeing the co-operative segment.

The second-largest information technology (IT) company in the country will soon launch core banking solutions (CBS) for co-operative banks.

Haragopal Mangipudi, vice-president and global head - Finacle - Infosys, believes the opportunity in the co-operative segment is ripe now with the ecosystem and infrastructure in place.

“Co-operative (bank segment) is something we are looking at in a big way after our successes in commercial and rural banking segments. Two or three years back, co-operative banks were not ready for CBS in terms of infrastructure. They did not have ability to manage such large technology. Today, it is becoming viable and feasible and they’ve seen the successes of RRBs,” he said.

Venkatramana Gosavi, associate vice-president - South Asia -
Finacle, said the tech company is encouraged to launch the co-operative product because of the resounding success of the RRB offering.

“Five quarters back we launched the rural CBS in the market and it is a resounding success. Today, we have the mandate of 40 RRBs out of the 78 in the country. Of these, 20 are already live on Finacle. So, that’s an incredible success story,” said Gosavi.

The company’s new offering is expected to hit the market in the coming quarter. It has already begun discussions with several of co-operative banks and is seeing traction in the segment.

Mangipudi said Infosys’ software product would be offered as a package solution.

Infosys launched Finacle ten years back in the Indian market and was present in just two countries outside India. Today, it is present in over 65 countries across six continents.

It offers wide range of banking solutions from internet to retail, corporate, wealth, trade finance, treasury, CRM and Islamic.

Mangipudi said Infosys would soon be offering Finacle on the cloud. “There are alternatives (like cloud) we are working on. It’s in early stages now. Finacle on cloud would depend on the ecosystem and the market readiness for it. The coming quarter will have more visibility on that (cloud) from the market perspective. Not only in India but also other markets,” he said.