Something to think about: Without bank accounts how would you remit money?
“Gopal G., a native of West Bengal, moved to Delhi 14 years ago to find a job to support his 11-member family. In Delhi, he works with a goldsmith, earning Rs 3,600 a month, much of which he sends back home. Like most low-income migrants, Gopal lacks the necessary documents to open a bank account and relies on informal methods, which are very risky, to send money home. The other option is to carry cash when he travels home. So far, Gopal has had nearly Rs. 60,000 stolen while travelling home by train.”
… from IFMR article exploring the various options available and some experimental ones being tried. All formal solutions mentioned fall into only two categories: creating bank accounts (with mobile banking) and India Post.
Anyone familiar with other kinds of products? I remember reading about an m-cash kind of system but couldn’t remember if it is being tried in India or not.
Stirring the Pyramid 
http://www.obopay.in/
http://beam.co.in/
http://eko.co.in/index.php
may be in a position to make moves in this direction. Caveat: I am just a link aggregator, mileage may vary with all the above!
Try m-pesa.
Very successful in Africa. I think it was modeled after Grameen phone ideas.
Besides the ones listed above, there’s also FINO.
And do check out the following relevant posts I wrote on migrants:
Eko:
http://www.techsangam.com/2011/05/01/khata-kholo-har-darwaza-kholo-ekos-branchless-banking-part-1/
Remittance trends for migrants:
http://www.techsangam.com/2011/04/28/banking-for-indias-domestic-migrants/
And one more:
http://www.techsangam.com/2011/04/19/the-twentyfirst-century-kabuliwalas-of-india/
Thanks Ludwig, Babu and Vishy. I now have some reading to do!