October 04, 2013

Janalakshmi Financial Services Teams with Accenture to Scale Up Operations, Expand Services for India’s Poor



Indian Microfinance Company to Outsource Core Business Processes and IT Management to Accenture

BANGALORE; Oct. 4, 2013 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), one of India’s leading microfinance organizations, have signed a five-year agreement in which Accenture will provide business process outsourcing and IT services designed to help the client rapidly scale up its operations to deliver microloans to India’s poor.

Under the agreement, Accenture will manage JFS’s customer and account master data and provide processing, reconciliation and reporting services as part of their customer onboarding and processing operations. It will also manage JFS’s application platform including its core banking system, customer relationship management software, and employee portal and website.

“The opportunity for serving the unbanked population in India is large and our recent equity raise positions us well to take advantage of this opportunity,” said Ramesh Ramanathan, Chairman, Janalakshmi Financial Services. “Our opportunity for growth rests on unwavering focus to serve the financial underserved Indian population with leading technology and sound processes. With Accenture delivering core IT and business processes, we will be more agile, more scalable, and far better positioned to serve our clients across India.”

Accenture will also provide application maintenance services to support third-party technologies and work proactively with JFS to help identify new technology opportunities. Accenture also will provide infrastructure outsourcing services – including end-user device management and network and server management.

Piyush Singh, Managing Director and Head of Accenture’s Financial Services group in India said, “As an innovator in Indian financial services, Janalakshmi Financial Services is positioned to play an important part in bringing the unbanked Indian population under the banking umbrella. With an integrated approach comprising business process outsourcing and technology, Accenture can deliver higher-value services to help JFS drive operational excellence, and enable its management team to keep the focus on its customers and on increasing financial inclusion in India. We are committed to supporting the company’s growth tied to tangible business outcomes and we are delighted to support their journey to become a high performer in an important and exciting new chapter for Indian financial inclusion.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 275,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

About Janalakshmi Financial Services
Janalakshmi Financial Services (Janalakshmi) is a for-profit NBFC-MFI with assets of more than INR 12 Billion as on date, with the entire promoter stake held in a not-for-profit, Jana Urban Foundation. This is the only NBFC-MFI in India structured in such a manner, with the deliberate intent of keeping the social spirit intact. Janalakshmi’s market-based approach to financial inclusion is defined by three distinct characteristics: first, an exclusive focus on servicing the needs of the poor; second, a strong customer-value driven approach in designing financial products and services; third, the centrality of technology and processes as the foundation of a scalable enterprise (for more information on www.janalakshmi.com).

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Contacts:

Girish Bhosle
Accenture,
+ 98 92027679
girish.bhosle@accenture.com

Lara Wozniak
Accenture
+ 852 6196 0362
lara.wozniak@accenture.com