Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Development

The book Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Development is a collection of research papers contributed by various researchers, practitioners and academicians across India. The evolution of the concept of financial inclusion dates back of 2003 when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan emphasised on building of an inclusive financial sector for providing access to sustainable financial services including savings, credit and insurance to the poor and regarded financial inclusion as a precondition to inclusive growth. Since then, global and national-level policy makers have been embracing financial inclusion as an important development priority. Since independence, Government of India (GOI) has taken a number of efforts for poverty reduction and empowerment of the poor. Launched in the year 2006, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) initiated the financial inclusion drive in line with the Directive Principles of State Policy aiming at promoting equality of opportunity for all and reducing economic inequality. Despite such efforts, a vast majority of Indian economy is financially excluded. An estimate suggests that close to 90 per cent of small businesses have no links with formal financial institutions and 60 per cent of the rural and urban population do not even have a functional bank account. This book highlights the theoretical as well as empirical issues of financial inclusion and exclusion in the economy of India. The volume aims to bring to light the outreach, challenges and imperatives of financial inclusion and pro-poor financial products and services. It focuses on financial inclusion as a crucial initiative for enhancing access to finance for the socially excluded groups. The volume is expected to be useful for the researchers of finance and development sector.(jacket)