Perspective of Technology in Achieving Financial Inclusion in Rural India

The economic welfare and growth of a nation depends upon the accessibility of people to financial product and services. Efficiently mobilizing their household saving and allocating them effectively to the growing credit requirement of the economy helps in sustainable development of the country. Govt., RBI and banking sectors are making tremendous effort to bring every section of the country into the mainstream financial system. Still there exists a significant gap between the growth expectations and the ground realities in context of 'mobilization and utilization of funds' that support inclusive growth of the country. There is also a significant disparity among the people of rural and urban area in availing the services of the financial system. There is a need of effective tools to bridge the gap and bring in every section of people from all parts whether rural or urban to take part in the mainstream financial activities. Modern Information and communication technology (ICT) can act as a tool to develop a platform which helps us to extend the financial services in remote areas. Technology intervention helps banks to reduce their cost, to increase customer reachability and in better management of business risk. This paper is an attempt to study the contribution of ICT towards financial inclusion in the country and analyse different application of ICT which banks are adopting. This would directly or indirectly reflect the effectiveness of the financial institutions efforts to bring-in underprivileged people to the mainstream financial system, especially in rural area and support in achieving Govt. objective of inclusive growth. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V.