Which banking models could be used to enable access to the BoP? A recent BCG publication, entitled "A Roadmap for Expanding Financial Inclusion in India," tries to answer just that question for the Indian market.

India has the second highest number of financially excluded households in the world with 135 million (China is first with a whooping 263 million). Rural households represent a big share of those financially excluded. BCG estimates that between 2007 and 2010, 17 million households will enter the financial markets thanks to income growth and 30 million more thanks to innovative banking business models. BCG further estimates that these 30 million people will represent Rs 10,000 crore (about $2.5 billion) for banks and Rs 20,000 crore ($5 billion) for insurance companies, or $83 and $166 per household.

They argue that the value chain should be deconstructed into six fundamental pieces that can highlight ways to serve this market: product development, customer acquisition, risk management, funding, administration and collection (although they just elaborate on the first two): In terms of product development, household needs can be divided into transactions, borrowing, saving and insurance. Although BoP demand is not homogeneous, there are several common characteristics for the products they are looking for, such as:

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