Indian Bank has launched biometric-enabled smart cards, as part of its plan to reach a larger customer base. The smart cards enable banking transactions right at the doorstep, using point of transaction machines operated by staff on the field, the bank said. Dr KC Chakrabarty, CMD, Indian Bank, said that the technology, developed by FINO (Financial Information Network and Operations, Mumbai) would facilitate doorstep banking, and is in line with the bank’s financial inclusion initiatives.The smart card was launched at Virudachalam on Friday. Dr Chakrabarty said that the bank had implemented its financial inclusion project in the Union territory of Puducherry and eventually replicated the project in Cuddalore district and in some other parts of the country. Mr MS Sundara Rajan, ED, Indian Bank, said the smart cards were being introduced simultaneously at Dharavi in Mumbai and Kaligram in Kolkata in association with FINO . Mr Rishi Gupta, COO, CFO and president (sales and marketing), FINO said “We see this tie-up as a major strategic initiative towards our vision of catering to the rural masses. With financial services hotting up and a huge unattended market of making available financial services to the rural masses, we see this tie-up as a logical initiative to cater to potential clientele of about 500-700 million people”.