As part of this program, TSYS's technology is used to authenticate account holders by transporting biometric information, such as fingerprints, from the point of sale to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Once the account holder is authenticated using biometric information, the transaction information such as amount of the purchase and merchant type is then submitted to Visa's network for processing.

With approximately 70 percent of the total population based in rural India, much of India currently remains unbanked or under-banked, with little or no access to financial services or electronic payment options. The roll-out of a 12 digit unique identification number, 'Aadhaar', initiated by the Indian Government in late 2010, is set to change this by providing a form of identification that will help facilitate easier access to financial services. The impact of the UIDAI project is far reaching and set to have a significant positive social impact enabling, for example, financial inclusion programs, such as disbursement of government funded social benefits to Indian residents — and extended access to banking and payment services through payment scheme enabled systems.

"TSYS is proud to support Visa and the Saral Money program in India to enable broader access to financial services for Indian consumers," said Amit Sethi, managing director, India and Southeast Asia, TSYS. "This initiative is a perfect example of TSYS's recently reaffirmed commitment to people-centered payments."

"Visa continues to invest in new and innovative technologies to give more financially underserved consumers in developing countries access to electronic payments," said Darren Parslow, global head of Processing, Visa Inc. "The Saral Money program and the integration of biometric authentication technology provided by TSYS, is a good example of what we can achieve by tailoring Visa's processing solutions to the needs of governments, consumers and financial institutions."

TSYS has also been instrumental in setting up the PIF India Chapter of the not-for-profit Prepaid International Forum, www.prepaidforum.org. A patron of the forum since 2007, TSYS is an advocate of prepaid as an alternative payment channel for financial inclusion in India.

Amit Sethi authored two market insight reports on the India market in 2011, entitled 'Incredible India: Four Imperatives to Accelerate Electronic Payment Adoption in India' and 'Mpayments and Prepaid Poised to Define Financial Institutions' Delivery of Banking & Payment Services to Rural India.' In October 2012, Amit issued his third report on 'The Next Frontier: Convergence of Social Media and Payments in India and Southeast Asia.'