’Financial Inclusion a Must for Poverty Alleviation’
Friday, April 8, 2011
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India has said concerns on the front of income distribution and poverty alleviation cannot be met without full-scale expansion of banking and other financial services. RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty said while the Indian growth story was impressive, there were concerns on issues like income distribution and poverty alleviation , where lot remained to be done.
Mr Chakrabarty pointed out that India ranks 119th among 169 countries on the 2010 Human Development Index published by the United Nations Development Programme. “We compare poorly on almost all indicators such as life expectancy, education and per capita income.
We have issues of water, sanitation, power, infrastructure and environmental degradation. More importantly, there are issues of social and economic inequalities and multiple deprivations,” he said. He said inclusive growth was impossible without financial inclusion and successful implementation of government schemes in achievement of its goals in the Eleventh Five Year Plan were impossible to achieve, without access to the banking sector.
