BHUBANESWAR: Financial inclusion (FI) activities in nine districts of the State have remained below average, revealed economic experts here on Sunday.
While financial inclusion activities, which intend to help people secure financial services and products, in Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Boudh, Koraput, Nuapada, Rayagada and Sonepur have remained below average, it is still very low in Nabarangpur and Malkangiri districts, they said.
The level of FI activities is average in 10 districts and high in the remaining 11 districts. Addressing a dialogue on ‘Financial Inclusion in Rural India’ here, former Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadai emphasised on the need of improving financial inclusion programme in the State to alleviate poverty.
He advocated change of mindset of policy makers, bureaucrats and bankers and a more compassionate approach towards the less privileged.
Former general manager of Canara Bank Rajendra Kumar Swain stressed conducting financial literacy programmes in rural areas and opening of more brick and mortar branches in unbanked panchayats of the State to improve financial inclusion activities of people.
Of total 6,798 gram panchayats in Odisha, 4,253 are unbanked. Apart from financial literacy and physical structure in rural areas for banking service, the Government is also required to simplify the verification process to ensure increased participation of public in FI activities, he added.
Besides, he said issues such as inadequate consumer protection measures and gender inequality need to be addressed at the earliest to increase the financial inclusion and expand banking service network in rural areas.
Former Chief Secretary of Tripura Sanjay Kumar Panda said opening of Jan Dhan accounts was a major step towards financial inclusion of people as more than 33 crore bank accounts were opened under the scheme.
General manager of NABARD regional office, Odisha, AP Das said inadequate infrastructure, poor connectivity, socio-cultural barriers as well as poor delivery of products are also main challenges of financial inclusion.
In order to create demand for banking services, NABARD has facilitated to conduct 9,473 literacy awareness programme, road shows, seminars and other activities in the State in the last three years.
He informed that NABARD has also selected 17 districts as special focus areas based on their physical, economical and sociological backwardness to increase financial inclusion there. Former State Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra and Chairman of Centre for Policy, Governance and Advocacy Tejeswar Parida also spoke.