To mark the Platinum Jubilee Year, the Reserve Bank of India, in coordination with the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) organised an International Workshop on “Delivering Financial Literacy” at Bengaluru on March 22, 2010. The two day international workshop was organised to advance and elevate policy dialogue on financial education and literacy in the international arena and particularly in India and countries from the ASEAN( Association of Southeast Asian Nations), SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation).
Dr. D. Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, in his opening remarks, emphasized that “financial literacy and awareness are integral to ensuring financial inclusion”. It is not just about imparting financial knowledge and information, he said, it is also about changing behaviour. Stressing upon the ultimate goal to empower people to take actions that are in their own self-interest, he said that financial education would help the consumers know enough to demand accountability and seek redressal of grievances. This in turn, would enhance the integrity and quality of financial markets. Recalling the one big lesson learnt from the extensive outreach programmes, involving the Top Management of the Reserve Bank, he viewed that financial literacy is not just a public good, but also a merit good. Treating financial inclusion and financial literacy as twin pillars, the Governor emphasized that financial literacy and education should be developed hand in hand with improving access to financial services.
Inaugurating the two day Workshop, Hon’ble Union Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, in the keynote address said that financial education and literacy could ideally supplement the broader initiatives for efficient and inclusive transmission mechanisms and the case for exploring the potential for integrating financial education and literacy into the overall endeavour for financial inclusion in a diversified country like India. He further viewed that while India has no nationwide structured financial education programme either at school level or, in general, but institution-specific initiatives by Reserve Bank of India, various Self Regulatory Organizations, Indian Banks Association, commercial banks, Banking Code and Standards Board of India, and more recently, by the Securities & Exchange Board of India would seek to fill the gaps in financial literacy and education. The Finance Minister lauded the Reserve Bank’s initiative of ‘Project Financial Literacy’, which disseminates information in 13 languages through its website on the central bank and general banking concepts to various target groups. He said that from a policy perspective, financial education empowers the common person and thus reduces the burden of protecting the common person from the elements of market failure, attributable toinformation asymmetries. Acknowledging the wide divergence in literacy levels across various states, the multilingual framework, the marked differences between rural and urban areas within a State and a perceptible variation in the penetration of banking across regions, he emphasized that public policy institutions, including Government and the Reserve Bank have to play a crucial and challenging role in designing appropriate delivery mechanisms for financial literacy and education duly nuancing the regional differences. Today, new financial sector initiatives in India need to explicitly prioritise both financial inclusion and financial education and literacy, the Finance Minister said.
Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Richard A. Boucher, Deputy Secretary General, OECD said that financial education is a major tool for empowering the poorest people to look after their families and develop the nation. The OECD is keen to promote financial education worldwide through its international network on financial education and close partnership with key countries like India. Congratulating India and the Reserve Bank, he said that their unique efforts would definitely improve financial inclusion.
Hon’ble Finance Minister also released a RBI book on “Financial Planning by First-time Earners” authored by Mrs Swapna Mirashi on the occasion.
G. Raghuraj
Deputy General Manager
Press Release : 2009-2010/1266 |