New Delhi, January 12: The apex bank of India has unveiled a strategy for financial inclusion till 2024, which is in tandem with prime minister’s ambitious dream to make India a cashless society and to provide an impetus to his financial inclusion goal. The government for the first time broached this idea of cashless India at the time of demonetisation. Ever since, the share of digital transactions in India has been rising exponentially.
The objective behind this strategy is to consolidate the ecosystem in India for various modes of digital financial services in all Tier-II to Tier VI cities. With the role out of this ambitious strategy, the RBI said, “Financial inclusion is increasingly being recognised as a key driver of economic growth and poverty alleviation the world over.”
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Throwing light on the objective behind unveiling this financial inclusion plan the RBI said: “Anchored in the country’s development priorities, the NSFI 2019-2024 seeks to address the inherent barriers of access to a gamut of financial products and services. An inclusive financial system is not only pro-growth but also pro-poor with the potential to reduce income inequality and poverty, promote social cohesion and shared economic development. Financial exclusion, on the other hand, leaves the disadvantaged and low- income segments of society with no choice other than informal options, making them vulnerable to financial distress, debt, and poverty.”
Counting multiple objectives behind this strategy, the RBI said that the aim was to provide a universal access to every financial survive available in the country to every adult through a mobile device by March 2024.
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In this financial inclusion strategy, enough emphasis has been given on last mile delivery. As the RBI said: “Focus on Last Mile Delivery has been one of the major thrust areas in various countries. Since the typical rural customer would not be willing to forego his/ her day’s wage to visit a financial service provider, it is important that distance and resulting time taken to visit the service provider does not act as a deterrent. To achieve this, various countries have come up with policies to extend the receipt infrastructure including permitting formal financial institutions to engage the services of agents and Business Correspondents (BCs). “
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