Financial Inclusion in South Asia

June 22nd, 2011

Financial Inclusion in South Asia

The term in its basic usage means ‘the delivery of financial services at affordable costs’ to the under-privileged sections of society. It focuses on the initiatives taken by governments, banks and other for- profit and non-profit organisations to bring financial services to the otherwise overlooked sections of a country.

Several countries across the globe now look at Financial Inclusion as the means of a more comprehensive growth, wherein each citizen of the country is able to use their earning as a financial resource that they can put to work to improve their future financial status, adding to the nation’s progress.

For quite some time now several African countries have promoted various banking services with this approach and have harnessed the unique aspects of mobile banking to drive financial inclusion. However, if we swivel the globe a little to the right we see South Asia sitting somewhat placidly, still getting its arms around various initiatives and services that would reduce its unbanked numbers. The largest of such nations in South Asia, India, has a working population of 600 million but a banked population of only 200 million.

An interesting aspect of Financial inclusion has been brought to the forefront by D. Subbarao, the Governor of Reserve Bank of India. He asserts, “Financial inclusion is good for both banks and governments as it would check inflation.” This is a new dimension to the benefits of Financial inclusion.

Look out for more on our blog as we speak more on this subject. Your feedback and opinions are extremely valuable.