Financial Inclusion – Harder than it Looks

Peterson K Ozili has written about financial inclusion and why it is harder than it looks ¹. He starts by describing three countries that have achieved remarkable levels of financial inclusion and then lays out why this is hard to achieve. Many of the barriers are within the control of governments to remove by investment and subsidies. Others, the cultural, social and income barriers are a much more significant challenge.

In July’s Cash and Payment News™ we wrote about India’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) programme, which has brought basic bank accounts offering savings and deposit accounts, remittance services and financial products such as credit, insurance and pensions to people. Between August 2015 and 2020 the numbers enrolled rose from 179 million people, with account holdings averaging Rs 1,279 and with 157.4 million Rupay debit cards to over 400 million people holding Rs 3,239 and 297.5 million Rupay cards. The PMJDY scheme works in conjunction with India’s national identity programme.