Creating economic opportunities for the poor through Financial Literacy

At XLRI’s ‘2^nd International Workshop on Inclusive Finance’, Industry and Academia Delved into Current Thrusts & Challenges in Financial Inclusion

Inauguration of '2nd International Workshop
on Inclusive Finance' at XLRI

Jamshedpur Sep 15th 2013(Sailesh Gandhi): The ‘2^nd International Workshop on Inclusive Finance’ organized by XLRI, the premier private B School in India concluded. The workshop conducted at XLRI Jamshedpur campus from 13^th to 15^th September witnessed industry leaders and academia share the stage and discuss various prospects and challenges in Financial Inclusion.  

The 3-day long workshop witnessed participation of eminent industry leaders and academicians like Mr. YC Nanda, former Chairman, NABARD & Chairman, National Commission on Farmers; Mr. T. Vijay Kumar, IAS, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India; Mr. AP Singh, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Finance, Government of Jharkhand; Mr. VVV Satyanarayana, General Manager, NABARD, Financial Inclusion Department; Mr. A. Udgata, Chief General Manager, RPCD, Reserve Bank of India; Dr. Alok Misra, Chief Executive Officer, Micro-Credit Ratings International Ltd., Ms. Veena Padia, CEO, Indian School of Microfinance for Women, Mr. K.Gopinath, Head (Rural and Co-operatives), IFFCO-TOKIO General Insurance Company, Mr. Neeraj Maheshwari, National Manager - Business Procurement & Micro Insurance, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co: Ltd, Dr. K.C. Mishra, Vice Chancellor & Dean (FMS) at Sri Sri University, Cuttack amongst other distinguished guests. 

Fr. E. Abraham. S.J., Director of XLRI commented on the occasion, “Access to finance should be universal; in today’s modernized economy, this has almost become part of the basic human needs. Poor should have access to finance, like food, education and other essentials of life. Our achievements in the domain of finance would not be suffice when vast majority of population have no bank accounts, appear to have taken up fewer opportunity in insurance and pension.”  

Mr. YC Nanda, former Chairman, NABARD & Chairman, National Commission on Farmers commented on the occasion, “Reaching financial services to all sectors particularly agriculture and rural areas has been a major concern for the policy makers in India since long. The development of an elaborate cooperative banking system with  over one hundred thousand primary cooperative societies at the village level, the social control and later nationalization of banks, establishment of nearly 300  regional rural banks, tremendous expansion in number of rural branches of banks, setting priority sector targets with sub targets for agriculture credit, direct agriculture credit, loans to weaker sections etc. , were all part of State- led approach with focus on  access to credit. The results have been mixed. There is still a strong possibility that the financial system may reach a level of inclusion in none too distant future which would be adequate for the immediate purpose of introducing DBT in the country.” 

Cultural Function at '2nd International Workshop
on Inclusive Finance' at XLRI

A number of special plenary sessions along with panel discussions and case study presentations by leading industry experts and business leaders were held on all three days deliberating on the best practices and evolving framework in financial inclusion, addressing the challenges faced while implementing the financial inclusion initiatives by the government. The plenary sessions discussed on topics like Financial Inclusion: Current Thrusts & Challenges; SHGs & NRLM: Convergence & Operational Issues; Financial Literacy; Role of MFIs in Financial Inclusion: Challenge under the current regulatory regime; Micro Insurance; Delivering Financial Services to the Poor: Financial Inclusion Action Plan. 

At the event, XLRI also felicitated the innovators in the domain of inclusive finance who won the national level competition Innovation4Impact. 

Dr. H.K. Pradhan, Professor of Finance & Economics and Coordinator, Financial Market Centre, XLRI said, “In a country of huge diversity in socio economic conditions, no single institution would be able to deliver. We have cooperatives, banks, RRBS, MFIs, now we are considering post offices, and even reviving the earlier effort of setting up Local Area Banks. We have therefore evolved a multi-agency approach to financial service delivery to the poor. We need to provide long term savings products, so that India’s poor can gradually accumulate their savings for long term asset accumulation towards retirement savings; escape the poverty of the elderly.”  

“I hope our workshop was successful to provide some broader perspectives on the critical issue of delivery models in financial inclusion”, he added.