Publication: Dvara Research

What a great financial inclusion journey India is on. Banks, government, NGOs, civil soviety and private sector businesses are jumping onboard as the train accelerates.

Rural households need relatively large sums of money for life cycle needs (such as marriages, festivals and old age), emergencies (such as illness, the death of a bread-winner and floods) and investment opportunities (as much in assets and household goods, for example, as in investments in micro-businesses)i .

Sometimes adversity is the perfect catalyst to invent what was unforeseeable in normal circumstances.

Financial inclusion is as much about convenient channels of delivery as it is about appropriate products.

The Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP), which was set up by the Ministry of Finance in June 2010 under the chairmanship of UIDAI Chairman, Nandan Nilekani, recently submitted its report to the Government of India.

The future regulatory environment for microfinance is being shaped by the recommendations of RBI’s Malegam Committee, set up to study issues and concerns in the microfinance sector.

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) essentially act as financial intermediaries, bridging the gap between mainstream financial institutions and low-income households for a specific type of credit need that is short-term and unsecured.

The Malegam Committee’s (referred to hereinafter as the “Committee”) recommendations to increase the supervisory capacity of the RBI, to make MFI regulation consistent at the national level, to promote good corporate governance and to increase bank lending to MFIs are welcome.

The KGFS model is structured around the concept of financial well-being and aims to maximize the financial well-being of every individual and every enterprise.

[Artoo Slate is a software solution designed for microfinance field staff that takes the entire process of data collection and loan disbursement online.