The Hindu Business Line : The financial inclusion project

Now-a-days, almost every meeting, conference, seminar or workshop organised by bankers or by financial departments of the central/State governments makes reference to `financial inclusion.'

But nothing dramatically has changed the perception of bankers with regard to the inclusion of the rural and urban poor in opening a savings bank account and extending credit to them. The much-trumpeted `no-frills savings accounts' has not yet reached the target groups. The forms for opening a savings bank account, withdrawal and pay-in-slips should be printed in the local language. Timely credit should be extended to the poor when they are in need without cumbersome procedures. Above all, the staff-members of the bank should be patient and understanding in dealing with the poor. Then alone can financial inclusion be achieved.

S. Nallasivan, Tirunelveli

Nationalised banks should come out with new initiatives and innovations. Rather than raising rates, the banks should rebalance their credit portfolios.

Financial inclusion covers new financial products, customer friendly initiatives and in-house training for the staff. Hours of work can be extended with the provision of the "single window" operations. In the light of e-commerce and Internet facilities, financial products can be easily delivered. Friendly and cooperative service, offering new and better financial products at low cost will fetch more customers.

T. S. Sundareswaran, New Delhi

Responses to Sticklish Issues dated November 6: With rising income levels, a retail revolution is only waiting to happen. It is important to note that while Wal-Mart caters primarily to the middle- and lower-income groups with their every day-low price strategy, organised retail outlets in India cater to the upper- and middle-income groups. The fact that Reliance opened its first outlet in an upmarket area of a metro supports this fact. Only time will tell whether such a customer profile will offer scope for growth to retail players.

We need to look at how to strengthen the backward and forward linkages of this growing industry with the rest of the economy. Instead of going in for the corporate farming model, retail chains can emulate the Amul Model of tying up with co-operative societies for sourcing their products. The Government can make it mandatory for these retail ventures to share their supply chain infrastructure — for instance, cold-storage facilities, city godowns to channel PDS (public distribution system) supplies, which is suffering from supply chain inefficiencies. We need to have a regulator for the retail sector, which will look into unfair trade practices.

P. H. Karthik, Mumbai

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