The Reserve Bank of India in co-ordination with the Government of India and other stakeholders has come up with various policy interventions to enhance financial inclusion and increase financial literacy in the country from time to time. This policy received further fillip during 2010 with the adoption of financial inclusion plans, which are self-set targets in blocks of three years which are developed by the Boards of the banks to expand the outreach in terms of outlets and access to a bouquet of products which, inter alia, includes KCCs and General Credit Cards (GCCs).
PMJDY
In August 2014, the Government of India launched an ambitious financial inclusion mission; the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) to ensure access to basic financial services of banking/savings and deposit accounts, remittances, credit, insurance and pension in an affordable manner. Up to December 6, 2017, 307 million accounts have been opened with a balance of Rs 698 billion.
Business Correspondent Model
Against this backdrop, several policy measures were initiated during the year to ensure last mile access to financially excluded sections. To strengthen the business correspondent (BC) model, the Reserve Bank developed a framework for the BC registry. This registry shall capture information on both existing and potential business correspondents and will help in the effective monitoring and oversight of BC operations. This should help to further strengthen the BC eco-system through appropriate policy initiatives.
BCs also play a crucial role in initiating first-time customers into the domain of mainstream banking. Proper guidance and handholding is key to their continuing and deepening relationship with banking. Accordingly, the Reserve Bank has developed a framework for BC certification with basic and advanced level courses to enhance their functional and behavioural competencies.
