february 2014
|
magis
19
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| money matters |
almost become a part of the basic human
needs. Poor should have access to finance,
like food, education and other essentials of
life. Our achievements in the domain of fi-
nance would not suffice when vast majority
of population have no bank accounts.”
The day’s events concluded with a pre-
sentation on Role of Credit Information in
Microfinance by Vice-President and Head-
Business Development, High Mark Credit
Information Services Pvt. Ltd, K Sridhar.
Dr HK Pradhan, Professor of Finance
and Economics and Coordinator of Fi-
nancial Market Centre, XLRI, said, “In a
country of huge diversity in socio econom-
ic conditions, no single institution would
be able to deliver. We have cooperatives,
banks, RRBS, MFIs, now we are consider-
ing post offices, and even reviving the ear-
lier effort of setting up Local Area Banks.
We have therefore evolved a multi-agency
approach to financial service delivery to the
poor. We need to provide long-term savings
products, so that India’s poor can gradu-
ally accumulate their savings for long-term
asset accumulation towards retirement sav-
ings; escape the poverty of the elderly.”
Innovation4impact
Six innovators, one motive — linking
finance to livelihoods.
XLRI felicitates their endeavour, of
making a difference, through its national-
level competition Innovation4Impact.
The six winners of the competition
were: SBI Life, Janalakshmi Financial Ser-
vices, MicroGraam, CARE India, Equitas
and Eko India Financial Services. They
showcased their presentations on field-
based case studies and success stories with
models of inclusive financial innovations
at the workshop before a panel of experts
including Nanda, Vice-Chancellor and
Dean, FMS, Dr KC Mishra, Chief Execu-
tive Officer, Micro-Credit Ratings Interna-
tional Ltd, Dr J Singh, Professor of Organ-
isational Behaviour, XLRI, Dr Madhukar
Shukla and Prof. Pradhan among others.
Felicitating the winners, Fr Abraham
said, “Finance acts as the key lever in the
development process, by expanding the
productive capacity and human potential
of a nation. We believe that building an
inclusive financial sector remains a key
task of policy, which has strong potential to
expand business and employment
opportunities for the poor. Our work
takes an integrated approach to improving
financial access, with supporting environ-
ment and infrastructure, so that poor can
undertake risk and seize economic oppor-
tunities.”
Day 2 ofWorkshop
The second day of the workshop held
special plenary sessions on Role of MFIs
in Financial Inclusion: Challenges under
the Current Regulatory Regime with CEO,
Indian Institute of Banking and Finance,
Mumbai, Dr R Bhaskaran, as the modera-
tor and visiting faculty.
The panelists were Centre for
Public Policy, Indian Institute of Manage-
ment Bangalore, Dr MS Sriram, Chief
Executive Officer, Micro-Credits Ratings
International Ltd, Dr Alok Misra, Director
and Head, Rural and Development Bank-
ing, Rabo India Finance, Arindom Dutta,
General Manager, SIDBI, New Delhi,
Prakash Kumar and Secretary, Institute of
Company Secretaries of India, New Delhi,
MS Sahoo.
Another session was on Micro Insur-
ance-Innovations in Products and Distri-
bution with Director of Indian Institute
for Production Management, Kansbahal,
Orissa, Dr Niranjan Nayak, as the modera-
tor and Head (rural and co-operatives),
IFFCO-TOKIO
General Insur-
ance Company K
Gopinath, National
Manager - Busi-
ness Procurement
and Micro Insur-
ance, Bajaj Allianz
Life Insurance Co.
Ltd, Neeraj Ma-
heshwari, Project
Director, Insure
Lives and Liveli-
hoods, CARE
India, Chennai,
R Devaprakash,
CEO and Direc-
tor, Weather Risk
Management Ser-
vices Ltd, Kanpur,
Anuj Kumbhat among
the panelists.
At the workshop, presentations were
made by Senior Financial Sector Specialist,
Asian Development Bank, Manila, Arup
spoke on Road Less Traveled: The Power
of Micro Insurance. While Commissioner,
Insurance Division, Securities and Ex-
change Commission, Pakistan, Asif
Arif shared his views on Regulatory
Framework of Microinsurance in Pakistan–
A Consumer Protection Perspective.
An insightful speech on Micro Pension
came from Director, Invest India Micro
Pension Services, Noida, Gautam
Bhardwaj.
Summing up the two-day event Prof
Pradhan said, “We do recognise that mere
access to finance, in the absence of other
business development services and capacity
building, including community engage-
ment, would not translate into sustainable
impact on the livelihood. Highlighting
the role of development finance and their
providers are considered important, in ap-
preciating the broader policy framework
supporting financial inclusion initiatives of
the country.”
Please write to us at
The six winners of Innovation4Impact
XLRI felicitates the
efforts of 6 innovators
who have tried to
make a difference
in the life of poor
