The Reserve Bank of India has constituted a high level Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee (FIAC) to spearhead the efforts towards greater financial inclusion. The collective expertise and experience of the members of the committee is expected to explore issues such as developing viable and sustainable banking services delivery models focussing on accessible and affordable financial services, developing products and processes for rural as well as urban consumers presently outside the banking network and suggest appropriate regulatory framework to ensure that financial inclusion and financial stability move in tandem.

The Committee will be chaired by Dr. K.C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India and will comprise of the following members:-

1. Shri Y.H. Malegam, Member, Central Board of Directors, Reserve Bank of India

2. Professor Dipankar Gupta, Member, Central Board of Directors, Reserve Bank of India

3. Ms Ela Ramesh Bhatt, Member, Central Board of Directors, Reserve Bank of India

4. Shri D.K. Mittal, Member, Central Board of Directors, Reserve Bank of India & Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India

5. Dr. Nachiket Mor, Member of the Governing Council, IKP Trust and former Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Bank

6. Professor M.S. Sriram, Independent Researcher & Adjunct Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Management, Indore

7. Shri R.S. Sharma, Director General, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

8. Shri B. Sambamurthy, Director, Institute of Development & Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT)

9. Ms. Rama Vedashree, Vice President, NASSCOM and Member of NABARD's Advisory Board on Financial Inclusion Fund and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund

10. Shri P.D.K. Rao, Managing Trustee, Sodhana Charitable Trust

11. Chairman, Indian Banks' Association – Shri K.R. Kamath, Chairman & Managing Director, Punjab National Bank

Executive Director in-charge of Rural Planning and Credit Department, Reserve Bank of India will be the Convenor of the Committee and the Rural Planning and Credit Department, Central Office, Reserve Bank of India will provide the Secretariat to the Committee.

It may be mentioned that there has been significant, albeit slow, progress towards greater financial Inclusion. However, ensuring accessible and affordable financial services in all 6 lakh villages in India is a herculean task and given the enormity of the task, a lot of ground still needs to be covered.  This calls for a partnership of all the stakeholders – Reserve Bank, other sectoral regulators like Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development; Banks; Governments; Civil Society; Non-Governmental Organisations, etc.

While the regulators and the Government of India are already part of the Technical Group on Financial Inclusion and Literacy of the Sub-committee of the Financial Stability & Development Council, a need was felt to engage the members from the civil society/Non-Governmental Organisations and others for a sound and purposeful collaboration. The Committee, if necessary, would call other market players like Corporate Business Correspondents, Technology Vendors etc., as special invitees to the meetings. Since the financial inclusion model selected in India is primarily bank-led, the Financial Inclusion Advisory Committee may also invite the Chairperson/Managing Directors of banks to each of its meetings to gather the perspective of the banks.

Alpana Killawala
Chief General Manager

Press Release : 2012-2013/613