NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Dr. Hema Bansal is working as an independent consultant in Financial Inclusion, Consumer Protection and Gender Studies since May, 2021. Until then she has led the Smart Campaign’s work in South and Southeast Asia at the Center of Financial Inclusion, Accion. Hema is an international development and microfinance specialist with more than 18 years of experience. Hema has managed Smart Campaign initiatives in eight countries, including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Cambodia and Laos. At Smart Campaign she was responsible for developing regional strategy, fund raising, project management, product development, network and regulator partnerships to advance implementation of consumer protection standards with multiple players in the financial inclusion space. Her work at CFI was centred around incorporating responsible finance in digital transformation and also disseminating digital credit standards. Hema has also done extensive work in India on setting up a Code of Conduct for Business Correspondents and designing monitoring systems. Before transitioning she was working with Policy Workstream of CFI.

Hema has also been an Assistant Professor and Reserve Bank of India Unit In-Charge at the M.S. University of Baroda. She has been a recipient of Ford Foundation and Reserve Bank of India Fellowships and has also published in India and internationally. Hema holds a master’s and a doctorate in banking and business finance from the University of Baroda under the RBI Fellowship program.

Link to profile : https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/bio/hema-bansal