f i nanc i a l i nc lu s i on i n i nd i a
37
RuPay debit card and mobile banking facility, (ii) cash
withdrawal and deposits, (iii) transfer, (iv) balance en-
quiry and (v) mini statement. Other services are also to
be provided in due course in a time-bound manner apart
from financial literacy to make citizens capable of opti-
mum utilization of available financial services.
Comprehensive financial inclusion (FI) under the
mission is based on six pillars indicated as follows. These
are proposed to be achieved in two phases as under:
(a) Phase I (15 August 2014–14 August 2015)
1. Universal access to banking facilities.
2. Providing basic banking accounts for saving and
remittance and RuPay debit card with in-built
accident insurance cover of Rs. 1,00,000 and RuPay
card.
3. Financial literacy programme.
(b) Phase II (15 August 2015–15 August 2018)
4. Overdraft facility of up to Rs. 5,000 after six months
of satisfactory performance of saving/credit history.
(A Credit Guarantee Fund would be created for
coverage of defaults in overdraft accounts.)
5. Micro-insurance.
6. Unorganized sector pension schemes like
Swavalamban.
In addition, in this phase, coverage of households
in hilly, tribal and difficult areas would be carried out.
Moreover, this phase would focus on coverage of remain-
ing adults in the households and of students.
Under a comprehensive plan the mission proposes
to channel all government benefits (from centre/state/
local bodies) available to the bank accounts of various
beneficiaries and by pushing the Direct Benefits Transfer
(DBT) scheme of the Union Government. MGNREGS,
sponsored by Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD,
GoI), is also to be included. Convergence with the
National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) in rural
areas and National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM)
in urban areas would be sought for in covering each
household with bank accounts. About 50,000 villages
(of 593,000 inhabited villages) do not have telecom
connectivity. The Department of Telecom has been
requested to ensure that problems of connectivity are
resolved.
India has several strategic assets providing favourable
initial conditions for transformational change towards
digital financial inclusion:
•
A strong banking network (1,15,000 branches) linked
to eKuber [RBI’s Core Banking Solution (CBS)], now
spreading into unbanked rural areas.
•
A significant outreach of India Post (1,55,000 outlets),
PoS and ATM terminals which can facilitate a vibrant
cash-in/cash-out network across the country.
•
A nation-wide telecom network with 886 million
mobile connections and 72 per cent mobile
penetration.
•
Strong network of computer-based service providers
in the form of Common Service Centres (CSC)
promoted by Department of IT.
•
A strong national payments infrastructure that
includes an Inter-Mobile Payments Service/Immediate
Payment System (IMPS) to transfer funds over mobile
phones.
•
A world class national ID system covering the largest
(650M) headcount and expanding by 30 million
citizens per month.
In the recent past there has been substantial improve-
ment on the technological front after adoption of CBS
by banks like electronic payment, NEFT, RTGS, mobile
banking, internet, IMPS, etc. Aadhaar-enabled products
like e-KYC for opening of accounts, Aadhaar Enabled
Payment System (AEPS), Micro-ATMs and ABPS for
centralised credit based on biometric authentication
of customer from UIDAI database have been adopted.
Similarly, NPCI has launched new products like USSD-
based mobile banking, IMPS, etc., which have the poten-
tial to change the entire landscape of financial inclusion.
These products would be used in a large way to ensure
coverage of hitherto excluded sections in a time-bound
manner.
An illustration showing shift in approach under the
Mission on Financial Inclusion launched in August 2014
as compared to the earlier approach through the FIPs is
given in Table 2.3.
Figure 2.1 gives the projected impact of the various
components of the financial inclusion programme on
