National Study on Speeding Financial Inclusion - Technology, Business and Regulatory Scan.

As part of our National Study on Speeding Financial Inclusion, the first pre-summit research summit meeting was held on 24th April 2009 at IIT-B, Mumbai. The meeting deliberated on a plethora of issues concerning business, regulatory and technology scan in the process of financial inclusion.

The meeting was richly attended by senior level management of various stakeholders such as banks, financial institutions, industry, technology providers, regulatory bodies, academia and research institutions along with national level BCs and BFs.

Past several years have seen the words 'financial inclusion' and 'inclusive growth' becoming a part of the common man's lexicon as well as a factor in the development agenda cutting across all spectrum. In the same period quite a bit of experimentation has happened across the country and multiple stakeholders have tried to contribute in their own ways - most of these though still qualify as only pilots (see "Life After Pilots").

The pickings from these experiments in terms of knowledge, bottlenecks, possible ways forward are immense. There is now a need to take a consolidated view of all the learning, fill in the gaps and suggest a common path moving forward. Our book entitled Financial Inclusion published by the Academic Foundation was recently released by Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Hon'ble Dy. Chairman of the Planning Commission.The book proposes a model for inclusive growth that argues for inclusive economics and inclusive governance as the way forward for inclusive growth.

From the financial side, it essentially spans micro-products (e.g. pensions, savings, investments, insurance, credit etc.), technology (e.g. computers, connectivity, mobiles, cards etc.), outreach mechanisms (e.g. BCs/BFs, MFIs, Post Offices, Telecentres, local bodies, NGOs, cooperatives, banks etc.) coupled with a financial literacy umbrella. From the governance side, it looks at enhancing absorptive capacity, empowerment and economic enablement of self-help groups as well as individuals - be it through social spending or any other appropriate development interventions. Role of participatory democracy cannot be undermined in the process. Ever since, the release of the book and the feedback received from stakeholders at all levels, there seems to be a general agreement with our proposed model. Given the above, we are now undertaking a nation wide multi-stakeholder study entitled "Speeding Financial Inclusion - Technology, Business and Regulatory Scan." The study would return recommendations on how to accelerate 'inclusive Growth'. We are hoping to be able to present an interim report during the 20th Skoch Summit.The study entails, one on one interviews, field visits as well as research meetings of practitioners and domain experts. The first meeting was held on 24th April 2009 at IIT-B, Mumbai.