54
families. The major barriers cited to constrain extension of appropriate services to poor by financial
service providers are the lack of reach, higher cost of transactions and time taken in providing those
services.
iv. The goal of financial inclusion is not new in the country and even in the state of Tripura. RBI has also
been particularly instrumental in introducing initiatives in this regard but the impact of these did
not yield satisfactory results.
Major Recommendations:
A.
Financial Literacy
It is very essential to convey more information about financial matters, performing financial counselling,
giving investment advice and providing financial education to the people, especially in the rural remote
places, starting it from the importance to save money. Financial Literacy camps/ awareness must be
organized in each and every village so that the people in the areas may familiarize about the various
financial products and the pros of having an account with a formal financial institution.
B. Information, Communication and Technology
Technology indeed plays a crucial role in the process of inclusion. The potential of mobile banking
largely remains untapped. With deeper penetration of mobile technology, mobile banking have great
prospects of increasing accessibility of financial services to the poor, especially in areas where bank
branches cannot be opened due to infrastructure issues and less population. But this may take time
for proper utilization without employing special training facilities by the Government because majority
of the people in the rural areas do not avail ATM cards also which is the basic requisites in banking
technology. This is the main drawback among the rustic areas.
C. Increased penetration of Banks
There are still numerous villages in Tripura where formal financial institutions do not exist. As a result
people residing in the rural areas have no option other than borrow money from the money lenders who
charge exorbitant interest rates. At least Ultra Small Branches must be opened in such remote areas.
D. Responsibilities of BCs, NGOs and SHGs
Organizing motivational training programs to the BCs, NGOs and SHGs is very necessary as they are the
key holders to open the lock of financially excluded areas. Most of the BCs in Tripura do not perform as
their actual responsibilities. Also the same problem is emerging with NGOs and SHGs because they do
not get proper instructions towards the matters.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
