Uninterrupted Cash In Cash Out (CICO): An Agent Success Model
Business correspondent (BC) agents are crucial last-mile infrastructure that support India’s vision for efficient, population-scale delivery of financial and other government services using Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). These agents primarily facilitate cash deposits, cash withdrawals (together known as cash-in cash-out or CICO), and optionally facilitate access to insurance, savings products, and various welfare schemes for rural and low-income India.
An Agent Success Framework- Part III :Arriving at an ‘Agent Success’ Framework
In this blog, we propose a framework for evaluating agent success through a customer protection lens; this can potentially be deployed as a tool to determine agent success while also allowing stakeholders to identify context-specific levers to improve outcomes for the customer.
An Agent Success Framework – Part II : Are Agent Networks able to offer access to reliable CICO?
In this blog, we focus on the supply side of the equation, exploring the literature detailing the issues CICO agents face in offering uninterrupted CICO services. Agents who provide CICO services often encounter significant obstacles that hinder their capacity to assist customers effectively.
An Agent Success Framework – Part I: Why must agent networks offer access to reliable CICO services?
In this blog post, we collate evidence of the various reasons that prevent the BC network from offering access to reliable CICO services all over the country. We rely on a mix of evidence in the form of qualitative case studies, survey results, and secondary sources.
How banking infrastructure impacts citizens’ withdrawal of social protection benefits
The delivery infrastructure that supports social protection is in serious need of upheaval and is fraught with issues such as paucity of access points, operational issues causing transaction failure, and unethical activities like fraud.
Backend botch-ups hamper Direct Benefit Transfer payments
More than half the payment failures may be due to incorrect Aadhaar details, or bank accounts that are wrongly flagged as inactive
DBT schemes need a digital grievance redressal system
DBT schemes are meant to ride on digital rails to facilitate smooth direct cash transfers. However, transfers are not always smooth.
Payment Failures in Direct Benefit Transfers
Our recently concluded State of Exclusion study finds that payment failures during the back-end processing of a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) payment are a significant concern. In this blog piece, we highlight the broad takeaways to help the reader better understand the landscape of payment failures.We also set out some broad recommendations to be taken into consideration by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to improve the chances of a successful DBT payment.
State of Exclusion : Delivery of Government-to-Citizen Cash Transfers in India
This report, a compilation of all our key learnings from field engagements spanning 7 states, attempts to bring the last mile to the fore of policy discussions on social protection entitlements and their delivery.
Govt linked JAM to DBT but the blindspot of ‘exclusion’ emerged. Here’s how to plug it
Large-scale scams in PM-Kisan suggest there’s vast leakage in DBT advantages. While inclusion errors are being tracked, exclusion should take priority.
