Eko India Financial Services is an Indian financial services company that provides branchless banking and digital payment solutions, primarily aimed at extending banking access to underbanked and low-income segments of the population. The company operates as a business correspondent for Indian banks and offers a network through which customers can carry out cash deposits, withdrawals, remittances and other basic banking transactions at small retail outlets.
| Name | Eko India Financial Services |
|---|---|
| Industry | Financial services, fintech |
| Country | India |
| Type | Private company |
| Services | Branchless banking, domestic remittances, digital payments, business correspondent operations |
Eko was established with the objective of leveraging mobile technology and a network of neighbourhood retail agents to deliver basic banking services in areas where formal bank branches were limited. By partnering with scheduled commercial banks as a business correspondent, the company enabled small shopkeepers to act as cash-in and cash-out points for customers, particularly migrant workers sending money to their families in other parts of the country.
The model fits within the broader framework of financial inclusion in India, supported by the Reserve Bank of India's business correspondent guidelines, which permit non-bank entities to deliver banking services on behalf of licensed banks.
Eko is often cited as one of the early Indian fintech ventures focused on financial inclusion through the business correspondent route, predating the wider adoption of smartphones and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Its retailer-led model contributed to demonstrating that low-cost, technology-enabled distribution networks could be used to extend formal banking services to populations that previously relied on informal channels for savings and remittances.