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India takes pride in assuming the Presidency of G20 for the year 2023. Together, the G20 members represent more than 80% of the world’s GDP, 75% of International Trade, and 60% of the world’s population. The objectives of G20 are to achieve Global Economic Stability, to promote financial regulations, and create an equitable International Financial Architecture conducive to the emerging challenges faced by the Global Economy.
In consonance with the objectives of G20, achieving Financial Inclusiveness at the global level is a key enabler. Financial Inclusion is the process of offering banking and financial services to individuals. It aims to include everybody in society by giving them basic financial services regardless of their level of income or savings. It focuses on providing financial solutions to the economically underprivileged. India has been a pioneer in adopting a holistic approach to Financial Inclusion, focusing equally on the demand and supply side aspects. The National Strategy on Financial Inclusion, with a focus on financial literacy, has enabled both the widening and deepening of access to affordable financial services amongst the excluded sections of the populace. India is on the way to becoming Asia’s top financial technology (Fin-Tech) hub with an 87% Fin-Tech adoption rate as against the global average of 64%.
In the past decades, NABARD has been putting in place the required financial infrastructure in various financial institutions and also pioneering in providing much-needed financial literacy. The entire gamut of interventions from conducting financial literacy programmes, supporting banks for enabling financial infrastructure, and capacity building of stakeholders to research and transfer of financial technology are being supported under the Financial Inclusion Fund. To address regional disparities in financial inclusion and varying degree of demographic and geographical conditions, NABARD has also been advocating the adoption of a differentiated strategy for financial inclusion. In this auspicious event of G20, NABARD is delighted to come out with the publication “Financial Inclusion: Outreach in West Bengal 2022-23” which will pave the way for the preparation of better strategies and help in realigning our priority and resources to the otherwise deficient districts in the West Bengal. This Financial Inclusion Index has been prepared to weigh the different districts of West Bengal on varied parameters like availability, outreach, banking penetration, usage, and deepening. Through this index, the relatively excluded districts will be able to catch up and thereby achieve a higher degree of financial inclusion through a focussed approach.
As per the United Nations, Financial Inclusion is a critical enabler to achieve eight Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through the Presidency of G20, we have got an opportunity to showcase and accelerate our efforts in realizing the dream of empowering the 1.4 billion population through Financial Inclusion. NABARD calls upon all the stakeholders to come up with synergic collaboration and a holistic approach for strengthening our initiatives at the grass-root level.
