We are a leading technology enabled digital service provider, providing (i) Business Correspondents services to major banks in India, (ii) Assisted E-services; and (iii) E-Governance Services at grass root levels in India. Through our robust network we provide access points for delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes, healthcare, financial, educational, agricultural and banking services for governments (G2C) and businesses (B2B) alike in addition to a host of B2C services to citizens in urban, semi-urban, rural and remote areas.
Through our tech-enabled integrated business model, we provide digital and physical products and services in the G2C, B2C, B2B categories in semi-urban, rural and remote areas where penetration of internet is low and citizens need assistance in availing basic technology enabled services. We organize our business along three primary business segments, (i) Business Correspondents Services; (ii) Assisted E-services; and (iii) E-Governance Services. A key stakeholder in each of our business segments are merchants, with whom we collaborate for delivery of our products and services to the citizens. As a part of our operations, we act as business correspondents (“Business Correspondents”) to provide banking products and services on behalf of banks to people while performing a variety of services including opening savings, recurring deposit accounts, cash deposits, withdrawals, remittance, transfer, bill collection services, through our Subsidiaries, namely ZMPL and Starfin. We also provide a variety of assisted e-services through retailers and digital stores also known as BLS Touchpoints, including PoS services, ticketing services, assisted e-commerce services, etc. Further, we facilitate delivery of various e-governance initiatives of the State Governments in India by providing various information communication technology (“ICT”) enabled citizen centric services (“E-Governance Services”) through our merchants also known as BLS Touchpoints to the citizens. Our E-Governance Services, enable the provision of citizen-centric and front-end services through BLS Touchpoints ranging from birth and death certificates, PAN and Aadhar registrations, property registrations, and other citizen centric services in a transparent and accountable manner. Our Company has entered into an MOU with the National e-Governance Division (“NeGD”) for agent assisted delivery of unified mobile application for new-age Governance (“UMANG”) services into its digital platform, offering convenient access of E-Governance Services.
Our diversified platform allows us to harness deep synergies and provides cross-selling and upselling opportunities to both consumers and businesses. The below figure depicts the various service offerings of our Company:
Our merchants act as our interface with the consumers and play a critical role in delivery of goods and services on the ground. Presently, our merchants are organised in two categories i.e. BLS Touchpoints and BLS Stores. All merchants registered with us are treated as BLS Touchpoints and they have access to offer multiple services being extended by us. BLS Stores are BLS branded stores which offer our entire suite of offerings to the consumers including availability of select goods on a sample basis supplied by e-commerce players which can be ordered and procured by our consumers after having a touch and feel experience of such goods. As on March 31, 2023, we have 92,427 BLS Touchpoints and 402 BLS Stores.
We utilize a “phygital” strategy (i.e., physical and digital) that integrates technologically over 90,000 merchant distribution outlets (comprising of BLS Touchpoints and BLS Stores) for assisted payment solutions, remittance, travel, education and insurance products, with a one-stop digital online platform for all of our offerings. This results in a business model that is difficult to replicate, and which is intended to provide a smooth customer experience regardless of the product, service or location. Becoming “phygital” gives us the ability to offer localised services to our consumers, where trust, knowledge and ‘face to face’ guidance by our merchants is readily available to citizens, no matter how remotely they are located.
We also have a history of acquiring complementary businesses and integrating them into our eco-system, we are typically able to achieve growth and improved performance of the newly acquired business within a relatively short timeframe. For instance, we acquired Starfin in the month of August 2018 and ZMPL the month of June 2022, which had 1,384 active CSPs and more than 11,500 active CSPs, respectively at the time of acquisition. Further, in October 2022, we acquired BLS Kendras Private Limited, which had 365 Sewa Kendras, in the State of Punjab at the time of acquisition. Sewa Kendras provide E-Governance Services in two out of three zones in the State of Punjab.
Leveraging the large scale, reach, and deep engagement by merchants on our platform, we have been able to add new offerings, as well as expand into e-commerce and insurance broking services. Each of our offerings increases the scope of our business for merchants, thereby, enhancing our value. We promote sustainable livelihoods and economic self-reliance for the women, rural poor and unbanked by linking them to banking, financial and insurance services and promoting financial, social and digital inclusion. Our online portal allows us to serve citizens and businesses throughout their entire digital journeys.