Financial Inclusion- News and Views - March 2016

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March 2016 

 

A transformative piece of legislation was introduced on 3rd March 2016 by the Government in the Parliament: The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery Of Financial And Other Subsidies, Benefits And Services) Bill, 2016. As introduced, the Bill will allow the smooth rollout of the Direct Benefits Transfers programme, where JAM (Jan Dhan account number + Aadhaar number + Mobile number) will prove the effective enabler for government benefits delivery. The Bill is expected to be passed by March 16th 2016. In the Budget Speech on 29th February, the Finance Minister also announced extension of DBT for fertilizer subsidy, with pilots to be operational soon.
The Cabinet announced the approval of a set of measures to promote digital payments (PIB Release 24th February 2016), including steps for withdrawal of surcharge/service charge/ convenience fee on card/ digital payments currently imposed by various government agencies, introduction of appropriate acceptance infrastructure in government agencies, rationalization of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on card transactions and a differentiated MDR framework for some key transaction segments, rationalisation of telecom service charges for digital financial transactions, promotion of mobile banking, creation of necessary assurance mechanisms for quick resolution of fraudulent transactions etc.
Another welcome move for financial inclusion came from NABARD to facilitate the use of Self Help Group leaders/members as BC agents. The Reserve Bank of India has also set up guidelines for credit reporting by SHG members. The role of women as BC agents is crucial to correct the severe gender inequality in access to financial services and the experiences of the GIZ-NABARD pilots to test the convergence of 'SHG-Bank Linkage programme with BC model' by appointing SHG members as BC agents and digitisation of transactions can be seen in this short film. Even as the new niche banks like Payments Banks and Small Finance Banks roll out their operations over the year ahead, connecting with existing rural networks will strengthen the last mile.

Research

Digital Financial Inclusion: Agenda For India
Policy Brief December, 2015

Service Quality Standards in Telecom Connectivity for Financial Inclusion
Policy Brief November, 2015

Digital Financial Inclusion - Addressing Customer Concerns
Policy Brief October, 2015

In the Media

Enabling direct transfers through JAM
Mint, ,12 February 2016

Expectations from the Union Budget 2016-17
FICCI Economy Watch, January 2016, Pages 7-8, 17 January 2016

Banking sector poised to see interesting times
domain-b.com, 25 November 2015

Blogs

Budget 2016-17 and Aadhaar
JAM or BAPU - which works best for DBT?
RBI to shake up banks with mystery customers
Government Boost to Digital Payments

Section I: Policy – the latest from India’s policymakers

Budget 2016-17
Shri Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister, February 29, 2016

Issues in Banking Today
Dr. Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, February 11, 2016

Rural Cooperatives: Repositioning
Shri R. Gandhi, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, February 9, 2016

Indian Banking Sector: Gazing Into The Crystal Ball
Shri. S. S. Mundra, Deputy Governor - February 4, 2016

Strengthening Free Enterprise in India
SDr. Raghuram G. Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, February 4, 2016

Notifications:
Strategy for Aadhaar Seeding (Secretary(RD) and Secretary(DFS)-Letter) MGNREGA
Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016
Pradhan Mantri Jan - Dhan Yojana
Trend of Zero Balance Accounts under PMJDY
Position of Overdraft
Position of Bank Mitra Infrastructure

Section II: News and Views Digest – the latest from India and abroad

India

Telenor Looking to Start Payment Bank in India This Year
NPCI's new mobile payment platform to link banking apps
IDBI keen to tie up with NSDL for payments bank
PIB approves India Post's Rs 800 crore payments bank proposal
Tech-savvy Indians shop with 'cashless' wallets
India Post to approach RBI on ATMs
Nilekani hints at big shift in financial inclusion in 5 years
India's Regulator to do More on Inclusion and Innovation
Incentivise mobile payments for greater financial inclusion
Payments bank: Paytm plans to unveil blueprint in March first week
Banks Generate Rs 857 Cr Deposits under PMJDYBanks Generate Rs 857 Cr Deposits under PMJDY
Polavaram is reaping the Jan Dhan benefit
Bankers call for digitisation, financial inclusion
'Financial literacy camp' held in Kohima
Real and Perceived Risk in Indian Digital Financial Services
Over the Counter (OTC) Money Transfer in India: Mapping the Customer Experience (CX)
Over the Counter (OTC) Money Transfer in India: The Remittance Silver Bullet for Migrants
Time for Action! Customer Service, Protection and Trust in Indian Digital Financial Services
The Ebb and Flow of Customer-Centricity in Financial Inclusion Part 1 – Why Being Customer-Centric is a Supply Side Strategy
The Ebb and Flow of Customer-Centricity in Financial Inclusion Part 2 – Beyond the Basics
The Ebb and Flow of Customer-Centricity in Financial Inclusion Part 3 – What Happened and Where Are We Today?

International

Tigo Nivushe, Tanzania: 5 ways to build trust in digital lending
Five Fresh Facts from the Smallholder Diaries
Is the Hunger Season Really the Sick Season?
Digitizing Agricultural Value Chains: How Buyers Drive Uptake
Helping Smallholders Buy Inputs, One Scratch Card at a Time
Digitizing Agriculture Value Chains: Seasonal Cash Flows
Lessons from Aggregator-Enabled Digital Payments in Uganda
Catalyzing Women’s Financial Inclusion: The Role of Data
What Information do Customers Need to Make Informed Decisions?
Policy into Practice: Zambia Advances Women’s Financial Inclusion
The Business of Aggregators: A Changing Market
Instant, Automated, Remote: The Key Attributes of Digital Credit

Section III: Research – surveys and studies on expanding access to financial services

Emergence of Mobile Insurance Models
Premasis Mukherjee and Graham A.N. Wright, MicroSave, February 26, 2016
Smallholder Households: Understanding Demand, Driving Innovation
Carlos Cuevas and Jamie Anderson, CGAP, 26 February 2016
Financial Diaries with Smallholder Families
Jamie Anderson and Wajiha Ahmed, CGAP, 25 February 2016
Connecting the Dots: Putting Risk, Customer Protection, and Financial Capability in Perspective
JSoumya Harsh Pandey and Graham A.N. Wright, MicroSave, February 17, 2016
Behavioural Biases Affecting Buying Behaviour of Kerosene Consumers for Alternate Fuels
Aishwarya Singh, Alekh Sanghera and Ritesh Rautela, MicroSave, February 10, 2016

The monthly newsletter from the Indicus Centre for Financial Inclusion documents the latest news and views in the financial inclusion space, to provide a knowledge base that will help build understanding around how to accelerate the poor’s access to high-quality financial services. Editor: Sumita Kale can be contacted at sumita@indicus.org. The Indicus Centre for Financial Inclusion was launched in 2011 to distil and disseminate information on accelerating the poor’s access to high-quality financial services. The Centre is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. http://www.indicus.net/icfi

©Indicus Centre for Financial Inclusion. All rights reserved. 29th February 2016

Indicus Centre for Financial Inclusion, 2nd Floor, Nehru House, 4, Bahadur Shah ZafarMarg, New Delhi 110002

 

Newsletters from July 2020 are available at https://icfi.substack.com/

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