Electronic and Mobile Banking in India: Gearing Up for Growth
MicroSave's Policy Brief 1 analyzes the impact of several policy and regulatory measures that the Indian government has undertaken on branchless banking in India, together with the announcements in the 2012 budget speech, and their impact. The Brief states that financial inclusion in India has witnessed several investments from a variety of stakeholders over the past two years. The Ministries of Finance and of Rural Development have undertaken many reforms and measures to make the policy and regulatory climate more conducive for banks, agent network managers, agents, and customers. The Finance Minister in his budget speech on March 16, 2012 articulated certain elements of Governmental intent for the next few years that aim to accelerate the growth of branchless-banking and the move towards a cash-light economy. These include:
- Direct transfer of subsidies;
- Acceptance and strengthening of Unique Identification Authority of India (UAIDI);
- Mainstreaming rural banking;
- Increasing Government-to-Person (G2P) payments.
The Brief states that India's path to significantly enhanced financial inclusion is well set. It concludes by discussing the impact of major announcements that accelerate the pace of reforms around financial inclusion.
