With the Centre’s financial inclusion efforts gaining traction across the country, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has decided to conduct a mega financial inclusion survey to capture the progress at the grassroots level.

The survey will cover 40,000 households spread across 29 States. Nabard has floated a request for proposal (RFP) to empanel an agency towards this end, said Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, Chairman, Nabard.

The survey, among other aspects, will cover asset base and other farm household characteristics; household expenditure on production and consumption; and financial inclusion covering credit, savings, insurance, remittances, payments and pensions.

It will also seek feedback on availability of credit, intermediaries involved, terms and cost of credit, and micro-finance related information.

Bhanwala said the survey will add to the information provided by the National Sample Survey Organisation and help stakeholders to better target their financial inclusion drive. The survey will be conducted once in three years.

Financial inclusion is aimed at providing access to the formal financial sector for the marginalised and formal-finance deprived sections of society. The big push towards financial inclusion in India has emanated from the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) launched in August 2014 and the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity.

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