Financial Inclusion: India’s new mission

When we talk of reaching to the people, we must understand what types of problems are faced by customers and what is the solution. Any policy and regulatory responses will therefore need to focus on articulating flexible approaches that can take account of multiple and competing objectives and that can accommodate further innovation. A key source of innovation is the capacity of technology to reduce costs and overcome other barriers to the provision of sustainable financial services to the excluded.

Till a few years ago, there was a dearth of appropriate technology. But, now that technology has arrived, we have taken several initiatives to bring about financial inclusion. What we require is a business model and a delivery model.

With this in view, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) advised banks to formulate a board approved financial inclusion plan for the next three years. All banks have drawn up their financial inclusion plans and we are engaged in active discussions with banks on their plans.

Through this approach, we are putting the financial inclusion campaign into mission mode. Based on our assessment and learning, we have advised them to review and revise their plans. Our broad approach on achieving planned, sustained and structured financial inclusion is as under:

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