'Marketing and Providing the Banking Services to the Unbanked Population - Is it Necessary and Sufficient Condition for Financial Inclusion?'

Abstract

The average purchasing power of the Indian Rural Economy is growing gradually due to increase in Government Expenditure on social sector projects such as hundred days work, mid-day meal, strengthening Public Distribution System so that essential food grains can be made available at cheaper price to the persons who are living below the poverty line. The major focus of the Union Budget for the financial year 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 was to achieve the larger aim of the financial inclusion. It focuses on the poor who do not enjoy the formal financial institutional support and get them out of the clutches of local money lenders. The branchless banking is an innovative concept where account can be opened and operated without going to bank branch. The profiles of Business Facilitator and Business Correspondent have been created so that they can work as the agent of the banks who are directly dealing with poor villagers. But the circle of financial inclusion cannot be completed unless and until both awareness as well as participation of rural population will increase in capital market products along with money market instruments. The objective of the study is to identify the difficulties that Government of India is facing to implement the concept of financial inclusion. Simultaneously, this research work will focus on developing the marketing strategies of the financial instruments to the rural population where a signification portion of the population are suffering from poverty, inequality, unemployment, illiteracy and superstition. Another dimension of the study is to develop the investor awareness programs even in remote villages by which maximum retail participation in capital market can be ensured. Since socio-economically they are most vulnerable portion of the society so it is the part of ethical, moral and social responsibility for every stakeholders of the nation so that they can be protected from the risk of miss selling by some unscrupulous persons. The methodology used for preparing the study is based on secondary information available from several research articles prevalent in the different reputed national and international journals that show how the process of distributive justice is being ensured in different nations over the period of time. Similarly data has been collected from the RBI database and the different published reports. The proposed intellectual output will give a direction how maximum benefit can be provided to the maximum number of persons so that fruits of growth can be distributed in an equitable way. A productive society can incorporate the inequalities provided maximum benefit can be ensured to the most downtrodden portion of the population. Otherwise India will be separated from Bharat where Metropolitan cities of India will enjoy the brand equity of shining India as a significant share of the fruits of the growth of the economy will be appropriated by a very few beneficiaries and remaining output will be left for the semi-urban, rural population of the nation.