Pranab Makherjee, Finance Minister of India, has asked insurance agencies to provide more microinsurance services to people living in rural areas. He made this request when speaking at an inaugural ceremony for the Insurance Institute of India, formerly known as The Federation of Insurance Institutes. Mr Makherjee commented, “One of the main objectives of promoting financial inclusion packages is to economically empower those sections of society which are otherwise denied access to financial services, by providing banking and credit services, thereby focusing on bridging the rural credit gap… I would like popularization of micro insurance [to be] one of the essential ingredients of financial inclusion packages” [1].

Mr Makherjee specifically focused on the topic of crop insurance. He stated that currently 20 percent of farmers have crop insurance, and he hopes that this percentage will increase with the availability of microinsurance to farmers [1].

By Julia Korn, Research Associate

About the Finance Ministry of India:

The Finance Ministry of India, as part of India’s central government, measures fiscal trends like output and prices, external sector and financial developments, balance of payments, foreign exchange reserves and exchange rates, external debt, trade, money and banking, financial markets and social sector programs. It releases monthly reports which detail these and other trends in the country. As of January 24, 2009 the Minister of Finance is Pranab Makherjee.

Sources and Additional Resources:

[1] India Infoline News Service. “FM Asks Insurance Industry to Reach General Masses” on June 9, 2010. http://www.iiflcap.com/FrontPage/NewsInner.aspx?NId=4371304

MicroCapital Universe. Finance Ministry of India. http://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Fin…

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