Financial Literacy- An Essence of Financial Inclusion

Abstract

According to Bernanke: "Helping people better understand how to borrow and save wisely and how to build personal wealth is one of the best things we can do to improve the well-being of families and communities." The frequently overlooked poor also require a range of financial services like opportunities to earn, to protect the income earned, credit facilities, risk avoiding services like insurance, transfer of money etc. Poor families are not able to obtain wealth primarily because of two reasons, first being the absence of proper financial services (financial inclusion) and second being the dearth of knowledge of finance (financial illiteracy). Financial inclusion has come up as a preference for policy makers and regulators across the world in the war against poverty. Financial Literacy is the most essential part of the financial inclusion, as without having the knowledge of the basics the disadvantaged people would remain to be innocent and careless. Financial Literacy would encourage these people to save, access credit, usage of the funds, earn income to get a better livelihood and therefore become a part of the mainstream from the exclusion. This paper highlights the initiatives taken by the Indian banks to attain the financial inclusion in the country, the role of financial education in reducing the financial exclusion and promoting financial inclusion in the country