Hello Ujjivan Mobile Banking Application

Problem 1: Traditional Mobile Banking application doesn't cater to semi-literate, illiterate & senior citizen users which comprise of more than 65% Indian population. 

Problem 2: No Mobile Banking application have interactive guides (Voice and visual guides in vernacular language) to help user navigate through the different services.

Problem 3: Language barrier: India has 13 languages with more than 10 million speakers, each has a number of dialects. Most digital services are offered in few majorly spoken languages.

Problem 4: Unintuitive design: Mobile Banking Apps leverage western design patterns, which are un-intuitive for a larger segment of Indian citizens.

Potential Target Base

1. More than 5 million customer base currently associated with Ujjivan Bank, hence Hello Ujjivan App gives the customer an opportunity to experience Digital Banking

2. 10 crore households in India are reliant on microfinance loans as they are not actively serviced by traditional Banks

3. The ease of adoption of Hello Ujjivan app gives it the potential of becoming USP for Ujjivan SFB to target and onboard these customers digitally

Hello Ujjivan Mobile Banking App - The official Voice Guided Android mobile banking application of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank is India’s 1st voice and visual-assisted vernacular banking app. It is a fun-to-use Banking App that offers banking services at your fingertips. This App is specially designed to encourage Ujjivan SFB's non-tech-savvy Micro Finance customers to adopt digital banking. It is secure, user-friendly and provides access to banking services anywhere anytime. It is available in 8 regional languages. The main feature of this Application is Voice Search and Voice Assistance. It is an industry first – AI & ML enabled. Hence, the app will have the ability to even understand different dialects of the same language.

According to the report – ‘Internet in India’, based on an ICUBE 2021 study, Rural India has 351 million users with 37% penetration whereas Urban India has a user base of 341 million users with 69% penetration. However a majority of these users are only accessing social media or entertainment applications as opposed to quality of life service apps such as banking, ecommerce and healthcare. In order to have true digital and financial inclusion this segment of customers need to be exposed to banking apps that are designed on the principles vernacular voice assistance and visual cues to trigger action.

Hello Ujjivan app attempts to reach out to 5.4 million Ujjivan microfinance customers and their family members to empower them to access the bank digitally.

Process followed to develop the Hello Ujjivan app involved going back to basics of designing a fresh approach to user interface and keeping in mind the nuances of user experience for the targeted consumer segment (semi-literate, illiterate and new to Mobile Banking users).

As a result the first version of Hello Ujjivan App are supported by localized iconography, voice-guidance and voice input capabilities in 8 Indian languages which makes Hello Ujjivan app a truly accessible digital banking app. The process was further complicated as simple interface also had to be compliant with RBIs directive on Digital Banking along with ensuring latest security protocols that are mandatory for all mobile banking apps. A team of 18 dedicated bank and partner resources spent close to 14 months to design and develop the app. 

The voice recording of the app were taken from over 3000+ customers and staff of Ujjivan to ensure that the app responds to multiple local dialect influences.

In the last 5 years of Ujjivan's banking journey, Ujjivan had started with a standard mobile banking app available in 10 vernacular language (rated 4+ in Google Playstore), however in the microfinance customer segment of the bank less than 5% of the current 5.4 million customers had been able to use the standard version of the mobile banking app.

With Hello Ujjivan app launched in November 2022 (Proof of Value stage) and was released to all the customers in February 2023. Since then, we have seen a steady rise in the number of users and their digital adoption. Till date a total of 1,60,000+ customers registered to the Hello Ujjivan application with Rs. 8.5+ Cr of loan repayments done by 26,000+ loan borrowers. 2,000+ customers created term deposits through the Hello Ujjivan app of worth Rs. 1+ Crore.

The entire initiative of Hello Ujjivan is towards providing solutions that humanises technical development. While Mobile Banking is not a new discovery for the literate and the tech savvy audience in India, a large segment of population chooses not to be digitally included for the fear of not understanding/comprehending the complexities of traditional Mobile Banking Apps which are built on the assumption that the end user is literate enough to read, understand and operate the various financial and non-financial services of the application.

Hello Ujjivan is designed to bring digital and financial inclusivity & ensures irrespective of literacy level, all individuals can converse with the app in their native vernacular languages with the aid of visual representations.

Hence, we strongly feel our Hello Ujjivan Application truly aligns with MIT Solve objective of digital inclusion for the 50% illiterate and semi-illiterate population of India (Bharat).

Hello Ujjivan is first app which empowers customers through financial literacy and enables them to conduct financial and non-financial transactions based on informed decisions through assistance in the application. Hello Ujjivan is designed to take away the fear of not understanding digital transactions by making it seamless for the end user to interact with the app real time and be guided through every step.

There were distinct stages for app creation:

1. Detailed research across 10 major states to identify inhibition of customers with current mobile banking applications. The study revealed customers who are able to speak a language not necessarily are able to follow written instructions of current mobile banking apps 

2. The research revealed that targeted customers are heavily using digital but via voice interface (WhatsApp, Youtube, etc.). The challenge was to create a similar user experience in banking application. As a result Hello Ujjivan is designed on the principles of voice, video and vernacular assistance in banking application and hence is a powerful tool to promote financial and digital inclusion among targeted customers.

According to the report – ‘Internet in India’, based on an ICUBE 2021 study, Rural India has 351 million users with 37% penetration whereas Urban India has a user base of 341 million users with 69% penetration. However a majority of these users are only accessing social media or entertainment applications as opposed to quality of life service apps such as banking, ecommerce and healthcare. In order to have true digital and financial inclusion this segment of customers need to be exposed to banking apps that are designed on the principles vernacular voice assistance and visual cues to trigger action.

Hello Ujjivan app attempts to reach out to 5.4 million Ujjivan microfinance customers and their family members to empower them to access the bank digitally.

Target - Making Hello Ujjivan App a complete digital banking interface with self-onboarding of customers (Savings Account, Loans, Deposits, etc.)

Below are the stages for Hello Ujjivan plan -

Stage 1: Empower customer to view their account balance and repay their loan EMI without paying any convenience/platform charges.
Stage 2: Give customers the option to go paperless and signatureless for acknowledging the loan applications through the Hello Ujjivan application skipping the hassles of going to a bank branch
Stage 3: Give customers and option to apply for a pre-approved loan, as and when required at their fingertips through Hello Ujjivan Application
Stage 4: End to end integration of customer through self onboarding using video KYC and operating their savings/loan account via Hello Ujjivan
Stage 5: not limiting Hello Ujjivan Application to only Ujjivan customers but also making it an open market app offering Deposits and Loan products.

Our Target Indicators are -

1. Total App Registration

2. Loan Repayments Done (Value and Volume)

3. Deposits Created (Value and Volume)

4. Funds Transferred (Value and Volume)

5. Number of impressions for Non-financials services

a. Balance Check

b. Mini Statement

c. New Account Request

According to the report – ‘Internet in India’, based on an ICUBE 2021 study, Rural India has 351 million users with 37% penetration whereas Urban India has a user base of 341 million users with 69% penetration. However a majority of these users are only accessing social media or entertainment applications as opposed to quality of life service apps such as banking, ecommerce and healthcare. In order to have true digital and financial inclusion this segment of customers need to be exposed to banking apps that are designed on the principles vernacular voice assistance and visual cues to trigger action.

Hello Ujjivan app attempts to reach out to 5.4 million Ujjivan microfinance customers and their family members to empower them to access the bank digitally.

Hello Ujjivan App is a full fledged Mobile Banking aimed at catering mass market customers of the bank. As a result, the app has been built as per Mobile Banking policies issued by RBI keeping in mind customer protection while performing financial and non-financial transactions.

Hello Ujjivan App complies to NPCI guidelines for Payments as well as adheres to OWASP top 10 security guidelines. The app is also tested against SANS top 25 standards.
The Hello Ujjivan app is regularly monitored by the Information Security team of the bank for potential risk, threats and vulnerabilities and suitable upgrades, enhancements are being made to the app to ensure the data privacy of the customer is at par with the latest standards of Mobile Banking application guidelines.

Ujjivan SFB operates across 24 states and union territories across India employing 22,000+ employees across India. Employee selection and career progress in Ujjivan is based on talent, irrespective of caste, religion, gender, race, ethnicity or physical disability. 

In all Ujjivan teams, we look to add people who can make an extraordinary difference to the unserved and underserved community of India. This mind set forms the cornerstone of our culture. In addition to a challenging and meaningful work, people here have the chance to give back to the community and make a positive impact on the millions of lives. Individuals find the support, coaching, and training it takes to advance their career.

In our constant endeavor to stay connected with all the employees, we follow an open door policy to foster a culture of innovation within the organization. We strongly believe in the concept of leadership connect. Senior managers have regular deliberations with employees through various forums and on the field. Periodic updates are sent on important organizational issues. 

All these people efforts and initiatives are led by our leadership team under the aegis of our Board of Directors who bring in rich experience of implementing global best practices in terms of talent recognition and driving employee satisfaction. As a result, Ujjivan actively promotes diversity and inclusion in the workplace through its internal policies and practices. For example, equal pay for all roles irrespective of gender is something that has been there in Ujjivan from the very start (year 2005).

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (USFB) Limited is among the leading small finance banks in the country. We were one among the first 10 organizations to get the Small Finance Bank license in India. It is committed to provide a full suite of financial services with a focus to serve the unserved and under-served segments. We are now a one-stop destination for financial services and offer personalised customer experience to our wide customer base. With technology as a key enabler, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank continues to expand its reach and enhance customer experience. The strengthened digital interfaces, across regions and languages has empowered our customers to seek timely and easy access to finance; at all times. This has further enabled the Bank to deepen its customer connect across diverse locations. As a ‘Responsible Bank’ we stay invested in creating a sustainable social impact through community development and financial literacy initiatives.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank is a regulated entity by Reserve Bank of India (Central regulator of banks in India). One of the key parameters of regulatory oversight is sustained profitability as banks are holding public deposits.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank a public listed company in NSE and BSE with both the holding company Ujjivan Financial Services and the subsidiary Ujjivan Small Finance Bank listed separately in the stock exchanges.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank - FINANCIAL RESULTS