Financial Inclusion to Reach Out Rural Area : Promoting Inclusive Financial Services for Poor Financial Initiatives Challenges of Financial Inclusion

Financial inclusion is emerging as a primary concern for regulators and policy makers. It is a major driving force to achieve inclusive economic growth and it is one of the major objectives of eleventh five year plan. "Financial inclusion refers to providing financial services and timely, adequate credit to weaker sections and low income groups at an affordable cost." Government is taking so many initiatives to achieve hundred percent financial inclusions but it needs to cross many hurdles. The authors studied the financial literacy and the awareness of various financial services among rural people. The book highlights the banking habits and usage of banking services among the rural people. It also examines the awareness level of rural people towards usage of technology in accessing financial services. The authors have discussed the various challenges of financial inclusion to reach out rural people. Banks are not willing to open their branches in the rural area due to high operation cost and less amount of frequent transactions. Today the adoption of ICT in Indian banking sector may help the banks to reach out rural area at a reasonable cost.