Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

An increasing acknowledgement that financial services hold the key to mainstreaming the poor and disadvantaged in India makes this detailed account of financial inclusion - both as a concept and as a veritable solution to aid in the country’s development - a timely resource. The book states that the primary goal of financial inclusion is to broaden the scope of activities of the formal financial system, thus allowing people of low income to gradually participate in the system and thereby freeing the poor from poverty. The authors argue that important financial services such as credit, savings, insurance, and remittances should be provided at an affordable cost to low-income citizens. Topics discussed in the book include current financial exclusion; the roles of microfinance, banks, and nongovernmental organizations in financial inclusion; the Indian financial system; the credit needs of weaker sections of society in India; and Scheduled Castes development corporations.