Financial Inclusion Remodeling: Including the Excluded Masses
Abstract
Economic development is possible only if a significant share of the population develops a culture of savings. This culture is conceivable through financial inclusion, which widens the resource base of the financial system, thus, bringing in the marginalised and low-income sections within the purview of the formal banking sector. The inclusion of the marginalised section of society helps in shielding the financial wealth and various other resources in exigent situations. The study captures the discernible trends and practices present in an emerging country like India.
Moreover, financial inclusions reduce the scope of exploitation of the weaker sections of the society by providing secure and easy access to formal credit. Hence, in this study, we have considered the case of India for understanding the role of financial inclusion in economic development. The Indian government aims at providing easy access to finance for those who have remained from the reaches of banking and financial systems through the policy of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna. Under this policy, the government-owned public-sector banks have given many incentives to the marginalised sections so that they do not feel burdened by the rules and regulations of the regular banking system. The primary objective of this article is to critically review the policy as a programme with a focus of financial inclusion of the under-served population.
Keywords
Financial policy, Formal Banking, Low-income groups, Economic development, India
Author Biography
Raja RR Singareddy
Raja R.R Singareddy is a fellow student pursuing doctoral degree in Finance at XLRI, Jamshedpur. He completed Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering. His earlier experience was in controlling finance operations for a non-profit organization. His current research interests are in financial investments, corporate finance, trade flows and consequent performance flows.
Balamurugan Annamalai
Balamurugan Annamalai did his B. Tech (Computer Science) from Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi and MBA from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Currently, he is pursuing doctoral studies in marketing from XLRI Jamshedpur in India. He has industry experience dealing with brand management.
Shabana Chandrasekaran
Shabana Chandrasekaran is an engineering and management graduate from India. Currently, she is pursuing her doctoral studies in information systems from XLRI - Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur. Her research interests include machine learning and its application on text mining.
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