SBI PO 2013 Question Paper

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

Financial Inclusion (FI) is an emerging priority for banks that have nowhere else to go to achieve business growth. The viability of FI Business is under Question, because while banks and their delivery partners continue to make investments, they haven't seen commensurate returns. In markets like India, most programmes are focussed on customer onboarding, an expensive process which people often find difficult to afford, involving issuance of smart cards to the customers. However, large-scale customer acquisition hasn't translated into large-scale business, with many accounts lying dormant and therefore yielding no return on the bank's investment. For the same reason, Business Correspondent Agents, who constitute the primary channel for financial inclusion, are unable to pursue their activity as a full-time job. One major reason for this state of events is that the customer onboarding process is often delayed after the submission of documents (required to validate the details of the concerned applicant) by the applicant and might take as long as two weeks. By this time initial enthusiasm of applicants fades away. Moreover, the delivery partners don't have the knowledge and skill to propose anything other than the most basic financial products to the customer and hence do not serve their banks' goal to expanding the offering in unbanked markets.

Contrary to popular perception, the inclusion segment is not a singular impoverished, undifferentiated mass and it is important to navigate its diversity to identify the right target customers for various programmes. Rural markets do have their share of rich people who do not use banking services simply because they are inconvenient to access or have low perceived value. At the same time, urban markets, despite a high branch density, have a multitude of low wage earners outside the financial net. Moreover, the branch timings of banks rarely coincide with the off-work hours of the labour class.

Creating affordability is crucial in tapping the unbanked market. No doubt pricing is a tool, but banks also need to be innovative in right-sizing their proposition to convince customers that they can derive big value even from small amounts. One way of doing this is to show the target audience that a bank account is actually a lifestyle enabler, a convenient and safe means to send money to family or make a variety of purchases. Once banks succeed in hooking customers with this value proposition they must sustain their interest by introducing a simple and intuitive user application, ubiquitous access over mobile and other touch points, and adopting a banking mechanism which is not only secure but also reassuring to the customer. Technology is the most important element of financial inclusion strategy and an enabler of all others. The choice of technology is, therefore, a crucial decision, which could make or mar the agenda. Of the various selection criteria, cost is perhaps the most important. This certainly does not mean buying the cheapest package, but rather choosing that solution which by scaling transactions to huge volumes reduces per unit operating cost. An optimal mix of these strategies would no doubt offer an innovative means of expansion in the unbanked market.

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been printed in bold to help you locate them while answering some of the questions.

The evolution of Bring your Own Device (BYOD) trend has been as profound as it has been rapid. It represents the more visible sign that the boundaries between personal life and work life are blurring. The 9 am - 5 pm model of working solely from office has become archaic and increasingly people are working extended hours from a range of locations. At the very heart of this evolution is the ability to access enterprise networks from anywhere and anytime. The concept of cloud computing serves effectively to extend the office out of office. The much heralded benefit of BYOD is greater productivity. However, recent research has suggested that this is the greatest myth of BYOD and the reality is that BYOD in practice poses new challenges that may outweigh the benefits. A worldwide survey commissioned by Fortinet chose to look at attitudes towards BYOD and security from the user's point of view instead of the IT Managers'. Specifically the survey was conducted in 15 territories on a group of graduate employees in their early twenties because they represent the fist generation to enter the workplace with an expectation of own device use. Moreover, they also represent tomorrow's influencers and decision makers. The survey findings reveal that for financial organisations, the decision to embrace BYOD is extremely dangerous. Larger organisations will have mature IT strategies and policies in place. But what about smaller financial business? They might not have such well developed strategies to protect confidential data. Crucially, within younger employee group, 55% of the people share an expectation that they should be allowed to use their own devices in the workplace or for work purposes. With this expectation comes the very real risk that employees may consider contravening company policy banning the use of own devices. The threats posed by this level of subversion cannot be overstated. The survey casts doubt on the idea of BYOD leading to greater productivity by revealing the real reason people want to use their own devices. Only 26% of people in this age group cite efficiency as the reason they want to use their own devices, while 63% admit that the main reason is so they have access to their favourite applications. But with personal applications so close to hand the risks to the business must surely include distraction and time wasting. To support this assumption 46% of people poled acknowledged time wasting as the greatest threat to the organisation, while 42% citing greater exposure to theft or loss of confidential data. Clearly, from a user perspective there is great deal of contradiction surroundnig BYOD and there exists an undercurrent of selfishness where users expect to use their own devices, but mostly for personal interest. They recognise the risks to the organisation but are adamant that those risks are worth taking.