The Finance Minister of India, Pranab Mukherjee, recently commented that mainstream financial institutions are not currently, but should be, reaching India’s poor. He recently reached out to banks, as well as mobile phone companies and other businesses, to help address this problem by saying, “Financial inclusion is a necessary part of our growth process…The entire economic system in our country needs to work together on this. The task ahead is huge.”
A reported 27 percent of farm households have access to formal banking institutions, and approximately 10 percent of the population have life insurance. Despite fast growth in microfinance in India, a writer for Agence France-Presse argues that “microlending still reaches only a few Indians.”
By Julia Korn, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources:
[1] MSN News. “India’s poor need to join the banking mainstream: minister” by Agence France-Presse on July 19, 2010. http://news.malaysia.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4227691
Microcapital. “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Nokia Launches Microfinance Scheme to Sell Mobile Phones to Poor People in Rural India” by Conner Brannen on July 7, 2010. https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-nokia-launches-microfinan…
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