Tag: Financial Lives of Poor Households

Finance Matters – A fortnightly column by IFMR Finance Foundation in The Hindu Business Line will explore ways in which the power of finance can be unlocked for improving the wellbeing of millions of households.

Did you know that only half the adult population in the world has access to a bank account? More than 3 billion people don’t have access to savings accounts, and they are predominantly the world’s poorest people who live on less than US$2 per day.

At a recent Spark session, Anupama Sharma from the Centre for Insurance and Risk Management (CIRM) spoke about the major lessons livestock insurance has handed out. We bring you the highlights:

The announcement of National Pension System (NPS) Lite, a pension plan geared towards economically disadvantaged populations, brings hope for much needed money during non-productive years

With a vast majority of the Indian population living in the rural hinterland, its economy and growth are linked to developmental efforts. Crucial to this is in ensuring that the fruits of financial inclusion reaches their doorstep.

What would it take to foster a measurable increase in the availability of agriculture finance to small and medium farmers? 

Including the poor into the formal financial system has been hard despite numerous and sustained efforts. The difficulty in achieving inclusion attains a whole new meaning in hills and mountainous regions where populations are sparse and connectivity is extremely low.

Given the scope of Microfinance in India, it is imperative to measure access and impact of finance to understand its benefits and challenges.

The power of finance to transform the lives of the poor is not well understood.