More than 2000 low-income individuals in Uttam Nagar, west Delhi, are able to access banking facilities without ever visiting a Bank branch. For many of these individuals, this possibility has been the source of a newfound sense of confidence, as their banker is none other than the friendly neighborhood "kirana store (local deli)".. These individuals, customers of the Eko powered HDFC "Abhilasha" savings account, are part of a revolutionary financial idea of "Mobile Banking". The service is available to the customers on all mobile phones including the most basic models. It does not require WAP / GPRS or any application to be downloaded on the phone. Abhilasha account is a simple zero minimum balance savings account. Customer Functionality is peer-to-peer money transfers, cash deposit/ withdrawal, wage and salary disbursements, micro-insurance, micro-credit and payments, all while using a simple mobile handset.
The entire process is simple and instant. The customer walks up to any of the retail outlets licensed to operate as an authorized "Customer Service Point" (CSP) in the area. With a plan to set-up 500,000 such licensed outlets within the next two years, the customers would not have to travel far; this is truly neighborhood banking.
Eko has developed a low-cost banking platform called "SimpliBank" which ensures real-time transactions and prepaid cash management systems to ensure transparency and traceability. SimpliBank is capable of generating comprehensive analytics in various formats which may be used for Anti- Money Laundering.
SimpliBank is a stripped down version of a core banking platform with limited functionalities (reducing cost to the consumer). It has the capability of managing and hosting customer accounts for the Bank. The system is as secure as the ATM (if not more). The technology developed has three-level security - the mobile phone, a "signature booklet" (patent pending) and the PIN. It is essentially low-cost numerical encryption.
The business model works on the fundamental premise: ‘a bank account for everyone'. Studies show that by 2013 over 730 million people will have cell phones (Gartner). Eko provides a low cost financial infrastructure that leverages the efficiency of the existing pre-paid recharge model, distribution network and the existing customer behavior associated with prepaid telephony especially talk-time recharge.
Eko has partnered with Airtel, one of India's largest mobile network operators, to set up a low-cost infrastructure. Eko will extend this infrastructure to various financial institutions including, Banks, Microfinance Institutions, Money Remitting organizations etc. Note that AirTel has in India hundreds of thousands of service points which Eko will eventually leverage as "Mobile ATMs". Cost per transaction is Rs 3-5 compared to a bank branch at Rs 60 (CGAP).

Please see attached video for a demonstration of how Eko works from the consumer perspective!