Central Bank of India, one of the largest Public Sector Banks in India and IT major, Wipro, today announced a 5 year total outsourcing agreement to provide state-of-the-art, technology-driven, core banking solution for seven sponsored Regional Rural banks.

One of them Uttar Bihar Gramin Bank is the biggest RRB in India and has a large presence in Bihar.

The engagement is of vital importance to Central Bank of India in order to achieve its objective of financial inclusion and bringing low cost and efficient banking services to the rural masses. The Centralized Core Banking Project is expected to facilitate efficient internal operations for the seven Regional Rural Banks. It is also expected to provide the competitive edge by enabling regional rural banks offer innovative products and services at optimum costs.

The Core Banking project would integrate 2000 sites which include branches, extension counters, Satellite offices, Regional Offices, Head Offices and back offices in a phased manner. The solution would also offer alternate Delivery Channels like Internet Banking and Mobile (including SMS Alerts) Banking.

Wipro, with its strong practices in governance, process excellence and integrated service delivery, will deliver business-IT alignment by deploying and implementing the critical Core Banking Solution and the identified delivery channels seamlessly. Wipro will also setup a 24-hour centralized Helpdesk facility for the project covering applications, Data Center, networks, security and end user systems.

Speaking about the engagement, S Sridhar, Chairman & Managing Director said, “The rural customer of the RRB will receive superior customer experience from the RRB, and fast efficient systems will enable alignment with the shared business vision of Central Bank of India and the Regional Rural Banks sponsored by the Bank.”

Ramnath Pradeep, Executive Director, Central Bank of India said, “Our vision is geared towards providing a future-proof strategy to transform the RRBs into institutions with sound financials committed to overall economic development of rural areas in terms of care, competence and compassion towards its customers. Wipro’s proven expertise in large Core Banking Projects coupled with a vibrant innovation culture will be the core driver of this significant project. We are pleased to partner with Wipro / Infosys in this strategic endeavor.”

The software has been provided by Infosys Ltd using “Finacle” along with other standard products such as ALM, Govt. Business, Internet, ATM, EMS, AML etc. With this, RRBs of Central Bank of India will be in compliance with statutory & Regulatory requirements including MIS.

Anand Sankaran, Senior Vice President and Business Head, India, Middle East and Africa, Wipro, said: “We are delighted to be part of this prestigious project geared at the upliftment of rural India. We plan to deliver extremely robust, scalable and flexible Centralized Core banking Solution aligned with the corporate mission, strategy and business plan of the Regional Rural Banks. This deployment will go a long way in helping Central Bank of India achieve its vision of encouraging more people in the low income groups, adopt banking solutions in day-to-day life.”

The contract is the outcome of a competitive bidding process which attracted several global and Indian IT majors. In a keenly contested deal, Wipro emerged as the preferred partner for the outsourcing deal spanning 5 years.

Earlier, last week, Wipro signed a 7 year Total Outsourcing contract with 5 RRBs sponsored by UCO Bank, a leading Public Sector Bank, for implementing a Core Banking Solution (CBS) across 803 branches of the sponsored RRBs. The contract with Central Bank is the second in the series of wins for Wipro, related to driving financial inclusion through Regional Rural Banks.