Financial Inclusion- News and Views - October 2015

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October 2015

 

The Indian government’s push for financial inclusion over the last year has earned India the top rank in country commitment in the latest Brookings Institution's 2015 Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP) Report and Scorecard. India has been ranked ninth overall amongst 21 countries in the report that analysed progress under four key parameters - country commitment, mobile capacity, regulatory environment, and adoption of traditional and digital financial services. The major turning points in country commitment over the past year have been the tremendous success of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and the new niche bank licenses: while the RBI granted in-principle approvals for 10 Payments Banks in August and 11 Small Finance Bank licenses last month, PMJDY accounts have now crossed 184 million, zero balance accounts have been reduced to 41.31% by end-September and enrolment under the Jan Suraksha pension and insurance schemes has crossed 115 million. The government’s focus on ensuring viability at the last mile remains strong, as remuneration to agents is also being monitored.

Even as Payments Banks and Small Finance Banks are expected to usher in new-age banking for low income customers in India, these non-banks face challenges in adapting to their new businesses. As pointed out by Micro Save in a policy note, “Transformation of Micro Finance Institutions into Small Finance Banks”, new Small Finance Bank licensees will need to work on the following points to transform from “credit only” to “deposit mobilizing” institutions: i) designing appropriate products and processes, ii) finalization of delivery strategy, iii) communication strategy to build demand for deposit products, iv) capacity building of the front line force and v) regulatory compliance and risk management.

Research

Direct Benefits Transfers: An Update
Policy Brief June, 2015

Digital Financial Inclusion: Agenda for India
Policy Brief March, 2015

In the Media

The payments banks revolution
Mint, 24 August 2015

Which comes first: identity or privacy?
THE HINDU BusinessLine, 18 August 2015

The last mile in direct benefits transfer
Mint, 01 June 2015

Blogs

PMJDY Update
Digital transactions on the uptrend
Tracking progress in financial inclusion

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

Sustainable Growth in the Financial Sector
Dr. Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, September 18, 2015

Financing India’s Growth - Challenges and Way Ahead
Shri S. S. Mundra, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, September 9, 2015

Financial Consumer (Depositor) Protection – Reflections on Some Lingering Questions
Shri R. Gandhi, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, September 8, 2015

Notifications:
Pradhan Mantri Jan - Dhan Yojana 
Trend of Zero balance accounts under PMJDY
Bank Mitra Remuneration

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

India

Restructuring the department of post for financial inclusion and efficiency
Small banks, big change
New-age banking increases the ambit of financial inclusion: CII-Deloitte
Small finance banks are the profitable way to financial inclusion
India teams up with UN-backed alliance to accelerate financial inclusion for all
Market regulator, central bank move SC on Aadhaar
Cashless economy: RBI to promote card usage in smaller towns
Small Finance Banks – Are You Ready? The Opportunities and Challenges
Designing an Effective User Interface for USSD: Part1
Designing an Effective User Interface for USSD: Part2
Cooperation or Competition
Will India's New Focus on Financial Inclusion Pay Off?
Why Is Financial Inclusion so High on the Development Agenda?

International

Voice of the Customers: a Two-Way Dialogue in Digital Finance
Let's Gamify to Empower the Customer!
Vulnerable Households Need Resilient Institutions in Disasters
The Promise of Mobile Money in Pakistan
Do We Need a Financial Inclusion Paradigm Shift?
False Neutrality: Ensuring Policies and Regulations Benefit Women
Interpreting the Financial Inclusion Numbers in Pakistan
Driving Smallholder Savings through Digital Design in Senegal
Making Tough Decisions as a Smallholder Farmer
3 Insights on Customer Empowerment from Côte d’Ivoire
How Will You do Digital Finance Right?
Understanding the new mobile money regulation in Colombia: An interview with María Galindo of the Colombian Financial Regulation Agency
Regulatory Considerations for Expanding the Mobile Money Ecosystem

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

Transformation of Microfinance Institutions to Small Finance Banks: Differentiating Men from the Boys!
Nishant Kumar, Nitin Malik, Abhishek Anand, Akhilesh Singh and Lokesh Singh, MicroSave, September 17, 2015
Operational guidelines for mobile money interoperability: a customer-centric approach
Renata Bindo, GSMA, September 2015
Proportional risk-based AML/CFT regimes for mobile money
Simone di Castri, Jeremiah Grossman and Raadhika Sihin, GSMA, August 2015

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.net. 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. 30th September 2015

Indicus Centre for Financial Inclusion, 2nd Floor, Nehru House, 4, Bahadur Shah ZafarMarg, New Delhi 110002
Contact:sumita@indicus.net Website: www.indicus.net/icfi

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

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