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CSCs are largely access points which have basic computing infrastructure run and operated by the local entrepreneur who lives within same community. There are about 1 Lakh 60 thousand CSCs today and government aims to build at least one CSC in 2 lakh 50 thousand panchayats. EC’s Mohd Ujaley spoke with Dr Dinesh Tyagi, CEO, CSC e-Governance Services, DeitY to explore future roadmap of CSC. Dinesh Tyagi believes that CSCs hold tremendous potential for accelerating the vision of Digital India.
What role do you see CSCs playing in initiatives such as Digital India or the Financial Inclusion programme?
Common Service Centres are an integral part of the Digital India initiative of government of India. CSCs are largely access points which have basic computing infrastructure run and operated by the local entrepreneur who lives within same community. One of the services relates to the financial inclusion part which is under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana.
Our objective was to make every CSC a business correspondent point. That is the reason we signed an agreement with almost all the major public sector banks so that these CSCs can deliver banking & corresponding services. So far about 30000 CSCs are doing that part of work. The last year financial commission to these service centres had been Rs 40 crore, so their earning has been to the extent of 40 Rs crore by doing banking correspondence services.
Now we have built technology with National Payments Corporation of India that will enable CSCs to become a white level BC, in the sense that a CSC can do transactions for all banks, and not just one bank. So in a village, if a person has account with PNB, SBI, they could withdraw money from CSC and the cost is negligible – CSC just needs to put a biometric device and do it. Presently, only withdrawal is done and we are now trying to work out if deposits and remittances can also be done. The objective is to create an access point of financial services across the country.
After Independence, there have been only about 40,000 rural branches in this country from public sector banks. There are six lakh villages and 2 lakh 50 thousand panchayats, the only way to create is that we can actually do the same thing in one or two years and cover most of the villages. What has been done in last 70 years, can actually be done in last two years because of the disruptive use of technology. We are using new technologies, and the government is also persuasive in trying and creating that model, wherein citizens get access to financial services.
So banking is one part, the other part we do is insurance. Our village level entrepreneur (VLE) also work as a sub-broker. He can sell products and insurance of all insurance companies and collects the premium. So we collect about Rs 1 crore premium everyday. In this country, only one of out four insurance policies are renewed. Usually people do not renew because they don’t know the access point. The agent sells and disappears. We are creating an access point where people at least renew their policies. We also do the pension, so we have a full package of financial inclusion plans.
How has been your experience with Aadhar enrollment?
Our experience with Aadhar enrollment has been very encouraging. Most of our centers are permanent Aadhar enrollment centres. We do full services of Aadhar which include enrollment and updation, both biometric and demographics. So far 10% of the total Aadhar numbers has been generated through CSCs. Out of 100 crore enrollment, 10 crore is done by CSC. Today, 40% of Aadhar is generated through CSCs. Large number of people come to us because our centres are permanent and VLE are known to the community.
Is there focus also on government to citizen (G2C) services?
The G2C part is mainly driven by the states. So in some states G2C is large and in other it is still picking. For example in Haryana, almost every government service can be accessed through CSCs. Even the payment of any tax to Haryana government can be done through CSC.
The objective of the government is that citizens need not to go to government offices and people should be able to access the services from anywhere. Citizen can access the services from his own house or through the assisted form of CSCs.
We also recently launched cash on delivery for G2C. There are people who may not even would like to go to CSC. So, we have launched services like getting printed Aaadhar card at home. A person can send us online request for getting Aadhar at him home. We will print the Aadhar, deliver the at the home and charge the money. Some of these may not terminate into cash on delivery but if you can do G2C on cash on delivery, insulate people from going to offices, you can bring a revolution in the mindset of people. We are trying to enable this. Very soon you would see more and more services offered through cash-on-delivery mode.
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At CSCs what kind of services are mostly sought after?
The major attraction is getting an application form for the jobs. For example, in Rajashtan, when the government launched a n application for police recruitment, 25 lakh people applied. There is of course, requirement for forms such as ration card application form or election card. We also do election services in almost 15 states. The other service which is frequently done is the electricity bill collection. CSCs do this in many states. So now a person need not to go to the electricity company office. He can go to a CSC and deposit the payment.
ALSO READ: Imagining e-governance through cash on delivery
How do you monetise the entire process and how do you ensure the viability of the business for VLEs?
In most of the G2C services, the government decides the rates. The CSC cannot charge more than government rates. CSC may charge less but not more than that. Second is the competition. CSCs are not exclusive, so the citizen always has choice. They can directly go to government departments. That ensures healthy competition. CSCs are not a private sector patwaris. They are basically private sector enterprises used by the government for delivering services.
Can VLEs completely depend on the CSC for livelihood?
On a standalone basis, this is very unlikely. In G2C, CSC is only enabler. Scope is limited. For example, how many times people will take birth certificates? But it gives you footfall and credibility. The major chunk of revenue comes from various other services. They enable them to generate huge income. For instance, we do activities for NIELIT felicitation, we do for open schooling; we have also launched option of civil service exam. In remote locations, even if we have less number of candidates, we can still generate income. A candidate can appear. He can also have 20 tests before the exam and evaluate himself. We are enabling people to do all these activities. We are also partnering with an organization who run the course for super 30. Our objective is to have an access point , close to where people stay, so that village people need not come to urban areas.
What are the future plans for CSC?
Our aim is to create at least one CSC in every panchayat. So far we have created 1 lakh 60 thousand across India. In addition, about 250 people are involved in CSCs at the headquarter and now we are planning 2 people in every district. So we will have about 1,400 people across the all the districts.
We are also trying to extend connectivity which is the major constraint. So what we have decided that wherever there is an NOFN, CSC will be in that location – either established or shifted from existing locations. We have recently taken an ISP licence to enable our VLE to also provide Internet through NOFN backbone and create a business model.
We are also trying to workout an e-commerce model. Although, we singed agreement with large companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal, they mostly serve in urban areas. So now we are trying to create ourselves a platform to sale products which are unique to India, like Agra shoes. Our VLE will upload the product details on the platform and we will try to sell them. This will an e-commerce from rural to urban areas.
Imparting skills and training to CSC have been huge challenge. How you plan to address it.?
The new CSC 2.0 has a three day entrepreneur development programme. Earlier we used to teach about how to deliver a service but now we have shifted to make it an entrepreneur development programme. This is being done all over the country. Jharkhand has almost completed it. I am sure this will address the challenge of skils gap in CSCs to some extent.
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