Financial Inclusion through Financial Literacy

Financial literacy is a means to tackle the problem of financial exclusion. It is a combination of awareness, skills, knowledge, attitude and behaviors necessary to make sound financial decisions and achieve financial well being. Objective of this study is to analyze current policy, practices and evidences on financial literacy. The study has been carried out on the basis of review of literature and secondary data collected from a range of sources. It is found that the government of India, RBI and other regulatory bodies are running financial literacy campaigns through diverse mediums. Financial literacy centers (FLCs) are contributing for enhancement of financial literacy. However, they need to be strengthened by enhancing resources. Inclusion of financial education in school and college curriculum has also been recommended. Scope of the study is limited to Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh in India. The study might be valuable for policymakers in enhancing financial inclusion.

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
Swati Narula

A sound financial system is considered as the backbone of an economy. This holds true especially in a country like India where still a majority of the population is unbanked or “financially excluded”. Research worldwide has pointed out that financial illiteracy is one of the major contributors of financial exclusion. The financially illiterate investor is unable to navigate the contemporary complex financial markets with ease. The financial environment in the world has undergone a tremendous change shifting much of the responsibility on the individuals to manage their finances and plan future well-being. Hence, the importance of acquiring financial literacy skills has grown manifolds. Due to this, financial literacy and financial inclusion has elicited much interest in the recent past in both developed and developing countries of the world. In this paper, an attempt has been made to identify level of financial literacy of the investors in Delhi. An investigation of the investment pattern of investors has also been done. Further, a nexus between financial literacy, financial inclusion and economic growth has also been investigated. In addition, the various efforts undertaken by the government of India and various other parties has also been discussed in detail.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHERI GEDDES ◽  
TODD STEEN

ABSTRACT Evidence suggests that financial decisions have a substantial impact on human flourishing. This paper examines the arguments for higher-education institutions to take a role in the provision of financial education for their students, families and alumni, who often incur substantial debt and make other sacrifices to obtain a postsecondary education. It also analyzes the current state of financial education at 322 higher-education institutions. While many postsecondary institutions have embraced some aspects of financial education, other higher-education institutions appear reluctant to infuse this multidisciplinary topic into their academic programs. Colleges and universities should consider developing robust programs that boost financial literacy and improve lifelong economic well-being.


Author(s):  
Kopal Khare ◽  
Lavanya Suresh

Abstract Access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation is considered as a basic human right. Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin (Rural), launched by the Government of India in 2014, is hailed as an attempt towards that direction. On 2nd October 2019, India was declared free from open defecation, with rural households having full toilet coverage. However, despite Government claims, the existing literature indicates the presence of slippage: where households practice open defecation despite having access to toilets. Equating progress in sanitation interventions with mere toilet provision presents a partial assessment of sanitation. To address the gap, the ‘Sanitation Well-being’ framework, based on Amartya Sen's concept of justice, has been proposed. It identifies slippage as an outcome of various underlying factors across the sanitation life-cycle. The framework provides a lens to analyse existing frameworks and secondary data sets and finds that they do not capture the dynamism inherent in the sector. The efficacy of the framework has been tested in the rural district of Shravasti, Uttar Pradesh, India, through the rapid rural appraisal method. Through our investigation, we found that slippage exists in the field, and that the framework is a feasible instrument to assess sanitation as a comprehensive phenomenon.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-98
Author(s):  
Nahakul K.C.

This research was an attempt to take a deeper look at people’s experience of existing financial services and their providers. In addition, it aimed to identify definitive indicators that would help to create a roadmap for the delivery of effective financial services in Nepal. The study emphasized that ensuring financial inclusion is an arduous task and requires a holistic approach encompassing strategies for awareness raising, financial education, technical advice on different dimensions of money management, debt counseling, saving mobilization, provision of affordable credit services, research and development. In order to promote financial inclusion, there is a need to develop and apply specific strategies to expand the outreach of their services using combinations of lending methodologies, market led approaches to new product development, fostering linkages with local communities and promoting the use of technologies. This paper is basically descriptive and analytical in nature and based on a number of policy models and provisions formulated in recent years for promoting financial inclusion in Nepal. Secondary data is used, drawn primarily from, Poverty Alleviation Fund, Department of Co-operatives and different departments. Micro finance institutions should give equal priority for non-financial services such as financial literacy and provision of entrepreneurship skills through government and non-government organizations that ultimately helps to utilize micro-credit into productive sectors.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105-114
Author(s):  
Slađana Barjaktarović-Rakočević ◽  
Nela Rakić ◽  
Marina Ignjatović ◽  
Milica Stevanović

Financial services industry has always drawn a lot of attention, from possible investors, those who need financing, the government and general public. Globally, financial opportunities are becoming more attractive, but also more complex. The goal of this study is to analyze the use of financial services in Serbia. We argue that financial education and literacy are preconditions for the use of financial opportunities. Research has shown that people in Serbia are not well informed about how to make sound financial decisions. The reasons why people in Serbia do not use financial products requires to a greater extent and services special attention. In order to test the differences between people in terms of how well informed they are and which services they use and why, we conducted a survey. Our results show that people with salaries higher than 100,000 RSD are well informed but not motivated to invest. Individuals with middle income do not have enough trust and think that they are not well informed about different opportunities. Additionally, we found that men are better informed than women. This paper aims to provide an overview of the use of financial services in Serbia in order to improve financial decision-making processes and understand the different financial opportunities.


2020 ◽  
pp. 2455328X2092243
Author(s):  
Rajesh Barik ◽  
Pritee Sharma

Among all the marginalized and stigmatized communities in Odisha, financial exclusion is high among the transgender community. This study discusses the status, importance and key challenges of financial inclusion among the transgender community of Odisha. This study tries to address the major constraints and challenges of financial inclusion among transgender community people in Odisha. To fulfil the above cited objective, in-depth interviews were conducted with 76 respondents. Additionally, the interviews were also taken from the transgender community’s president and secretary from two regions of Odisha (Cuttack and Bhubaneswar). This study points out that transgender people are deprived from accessing adequate financial products and services from the formal financial institutions. Both demand side and supply side factors are responsible for this exclusion. On the demand side, their low financial literacy and awareness, lack of proper documents to open a bank account, lack of individual interest and lack of formal employment are responsible. On the other hand, supply side factors involve unfriendly behaviour of bank staff and officers, less provision of legal documents from the government, less spread of information, less awareness programmes or financial literacy programmes among the transgender community of Odisha.


Author(s):  
Zaiton Osman ◽  
Erni Marlina Madzlan ◽  
Phang Ing

The exposure to a plethora of choices and relatively complex financial products has intensified the need for financial knowledge adequacy in order to acquire the skills needed to make sound financial decisions. The studyaimed to examine the effects of financial literacy and financial behaviour on respondents’ financial well-being and to assess the role of financial stress in mediating these relationships. Using a web-based online survey approach, a total of 213 employees in the government and private sectors in the Federal Territory of Labuan responded to the self-administered questionnaire via convenience sampling technique. All data were analyzed using Partial Least Square (PLS) version 3.0. This study found significant relationships between financial literacy, financial stress, and financial well-being. However, there was no significant correlation between financial behaviour and financial wellbeing. Subsequently, financial stress proved to have no mediating effecton predicting employee’s financial well-being in FT Labuan.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-37
Author(s):  
Sukharanjan Debnath

As per rules, the Savings practice of Government salaried people is mandatory up to a stipulated amount of monthly salary. According to GPF, EPF and NPS Rules, a predetermined amount is deducted by the employer at source for the future wellbeing of the concerned employee and invest to GPF, EPF, NPS, etc. In addition to these mandatory savings, employees can save their money to other savings instruments according to their capability and other conditions. As most of the government employees in Unakoti district of Tripura are working with small designations and salaries, they are not able to save more in addition to mandatory savings. Fixed Pay Employee (FPE), Contract Base Worker (CBW), Per Time Worker (PTW), Monthly Pay Worker (MPW), Daily Rate Worker (DRW) are the working conditions where employees get less amount of salary in comparison to regular employees. Under these conditions, their savings rate is also low in comparison to other employees. Other Sources of income, spouse job, dependency ratio, age, literacy level, educational qualification and availability of savings instruments nearby employees are an important aspect for better understanding of savings improvement in the District. The present study entitled “Savings behavior of Government Salaried People in Unakoti District of Tripura” is an empirical study based on primary data and secondary data. The study reveals that the savings rate of salaried people in Unakoti District of Tripura is growing slowly. Financial literacy, reduction of dependency ratio by employment generation programs, Massive awareness program and availability of savings instruments in the rural areas may make a vigorous savings environment in Unakoti District of Tripura.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 168-182
Author(s):  
David Mhlanga ◽  
◽  
Steven Henry Dunga ◽  
Tankiso Moloi ◽  
◽  
...  

The study sought to investigate the impact of financial inclusion on poverty reduction in Zimbabwe among the smallholder farmers. It is alleged that financial inclusion can help in achieving seven of the seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs), which include poverty eradication in all its forms everywhere, ending hunger, achieving food security, ensuring improved nutrition as well as promoting sustainable agriculture and many others. Using the simple regression method, the study discovered that financial inclusion has a strong impact on poverty reduction among smallholder farmers. The study went on to discover that, for the government to tackle poverty especially among the smallholder farmers, it is important to ensure that farmers do participate in the financial sector through saving, borrowing and taking out insurance among other services. So, it is important for the government of Zimbabwe to fully implement policies that encourage financial inclusion such as making sure that farmers find it easy to access financial institutions and encouraging financial institutions to review transaction costs like bank account opening charges periodically, implementing financial education programs among the farmers because these variables are important in influencing farmers to participate or preventing them from using financial services.


2020 ◽  
pp. 222-234
Author(s):  
Anis ur Rehman

The Regional Rural Banks are government-owned, regionally based and rurally oriented financial institutions specialized in catering to the credit needs of the neglected and weaker sections of the society. In the recent past, RRBs have become a potent mediator for financial inclusion in rural areas. This paper summarizes the innovative methods used by the employees of these banks in deposit mobilizations, credit expansion and recovery of the loan. The primary purpose of the research is to find the problems faced by officials of these banks in marketing their services to the rural customer. The opinions of these bank officials regarding the above factors and the functioning of these banks and their impact on society have also been studied. For this purpose, a sample of 96 bank officials of Aryavart bank and Purvanchal Bank have been taken from the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh. Methodological tools of the research methods were Frequency and Chi-square test of independence which have been used to test the hypotheses developed in the study. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that the employees and staff of these two regional rural banks in the state are making their earnest effort to channelize the savings of rural people by mobilization of deposits by motivating them to deposit their surplus money in the regional rural banks. The bank officials are making efforts to extend credit facilities in rural areas to uplift the people economically. The bank officials are facing problems in deposit mobilization, and credit expansion in the rural areas of the state and they are managing these problems very efficiently. Some political interference was found in the functioning of these banks. In the opinion of these bank officials, the overall working of these regional rural banks is proper. The results of the research can be useful for policymakers in the government to understand the hurdles faced by regional rural banks in reaching to the poor and needy sections of the society. The insights from this paper can help the policymakers to craft innovative schemes which enable these banks to reach the most inaccessible customers in rural areas. Keywords Regional Rural Banks, deposit mobilizations, credit expansion, financial inclusion, loan recovery.


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