Status of Financial Inclusion and the Way Forward: Madhya Pradesh

This paper provides an overview of the current status of financial inclusion and makes future projections in terms of demand and supply of financial services in Madhya Pradesh, India. It also identifies gaps in the financial inclusion sector and discusses the role and responsibilities of various stakeholders in order to enable resource planning, pooling, and optimization. The research for the paper is based on field based individual interactions and multi-stakeholder consultations at the state level. The paper provides strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of the financial inclusion sector in Madhya Pradesh. It covers the following sections in detail:

• Profile of Madhya Pradesh with a focus on poverty indicators, challenges to financial inclusion, and needs and opportunities;
• Status of banking and financial services in the state with a focus on bank branches, credit plans, products and schemes offered, and the self-help group bank linkage program;
• Financial inclusion and financial literacy in the state with a focus on increasing outreach through business correspondents and business facilitators;
• Status of other financial services in the state with a focus on postal financial systems, MFIs, debt-funding providers, and micro-pensions;
• Initiatives undertaken by the state to enhance financial inclusion and alleviate poverty;
• Projections and way forward.