Financial inclusion can be better achieved through self-help groups: Nabard

The two-decade-old self-help group-bank linkage programme for the economic betterment of rural poor is not receiving bankers’ attention, says Nabard. This observation comes in the backdrop of the Government pushing banks to step up their financial inclusion (FI) drive through intermediaries such as business correspondents (BCs) and business facilitators (BFs) in the last three years The FI drive, whereby financial services are sought to be extended to the hitherto large un-served population of the country, envisaged by the Government and the Reserve Bank of India entails banks engaging the services of BCs and BFs. According to a Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) report, though the SHG-BLP (self-help group-bank linkage programme) is a step towards bringing the ‘unbanked’ poor into the mainstream banking channel, its formal acceptance as a financial inclusion channel by the central bank is still awaited. 

Read more >> Click here