Underprivileged customers
One can understand the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Dr D. Subbarao, being piqued that India has been ranked 50 in the first-ever index of financial inclusion prepared by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), below countries like China, Kenya and Morocco.
Financial inclusion means making banking and others financial services available to the economically weaker sections of the population, particularly in rural areas. Over the last two-three years, Dr Subbarao has been literally prodding banks to adopt financial inclusion as part of their financial responsibilities, so one can imagine his disappointment as head and regulator of the banking system to see India, a democracy, at the bottom of the ladder on this score.
It may be recalled that in 1969, banks were nationalised after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi presented her “stray thoughts” on nationalisation of banks at an AICC meeting. For the first time marginal farmers in dhotis walked in the hallowed precincts of banks which till then the preserve of only the suited and booted. But over the years, the marginalised and low-income group people were forgotten and once again banking became the preserve of the better-off classes. It was left to micro-finance institutions and NGOs to cater to their needs.
So it is necessary to remind bankers, presently struggling with the non-performing accounts of glamorous sectors like aviation, not to treat no-frill accounts as a nuisance, but to look at financial inclusion as an opportunity to build fortunes at the bottom of the pyramid.
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