05th National Seminar on Financial Inclusion and Microfinance

02 March 2020

The 05th National Seminar on Financial Inclusion and Microfinance was organized by

NABARD and BIRD on 02 March 2020 at BIRD, Lucknow.

Smt. TS Raji Gain, Director, BIRD welcomed the participants and highlighted the

objectives of Seminar. She added that Financial Inclusion is an important agenda of

GoI and it extends beyond bank linkage and includes providing a range of financial

services at an affordable cost to the most vulnerable sections of the society. She also

emphasized the role of technology in securing financial inclusion at a faster pace and

coverage of unreached areas. She shared that NABARD also spearheaded the largest

microfinance programme in the world i.e. SHG-BLP covering 12 crore rural

households. Subsequently, NABARD also took the initiative of bringing the SHGs on

digital platform through EShakti programme aimed at facilitating credit linkage of

SHGs by bringing about transparency of SHGs functioning. As of now 6 lakh SHGs

have been put on board under EShakti. Thus, the Fintech Companies, microfinance

and financial inclusion practitioners have to come together to achieve the objective of

holistic financial inclusion. This Seminar provided a platform for the stakeholders to

outline a road map for faster, inclusive and sustainable growth. The Seminar was

initiated with lighting of lamp by the dignitaries followed by panel discussions on the

themes.

The Seminar was graced by Ms. Leena Johri, IAS, Joint Secretary, MoRD, GoI & CEO

- NRLM & IEC, Shri R. Lakshmi Kanth Rao, Regional Director, RBI, Lucknow, Shri

Shankar A Pande, CGM, UP RO, Smt. R. Kakati Baruah, CGM, MCID, NABARD, Head

Office, Shri L.R. Ramachandran, CGM, DFIBT, NABARD, Head Office, Shri S.V.

Sardesai, Principal, NBSC. The schedule of the Seminar is attached for reference. The

Seminar was attended by senior level officers of banks, Govt. Departments including

SRLMs, NABARD officers from Head office / Regional Offices, MFIs, NGOs across the

country and also FMs of NBSC and BIRD.

The two themes of the Seminar were:

(i) Convergence of Fin Tech Companies, Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

(ii) SHG Bank Linkage Programme - Way Forward

The first panel was chaired by Shri L.R. Ramachandran, CGM, DFIBT, NABARD,

Head Office and the second panel was chaired by Smt. R. Kakati Baruah, CGM, MCID,

NABARD, Head Office. The panel discussion was summed up by Shri Bibhas Srivastav,

Former ED, Corporation Bank. Shri Mukesh Vats, Joint Director, BIRD, Lucknow

proposed the vote of thanks. The programme was coordinated by Shri MR Gopal and

Shri KPR Udupa, Faculty Members, BIRD. The programme was compered by Smt.

Deepmala Ghosh, FM and CRFIM team comprising Shri Manohar Lal, DGM and Sh.

Tamanud Ghosh, Research Officer were actively associated with the organization of

the Seminar.

Lighting of Lamp…

Director, BIRD – Welcoming Ms. Leena Johri, IAS by giving a Tree Certificate

Director, BIRD – Welcoming Shri R. Lakshmi Kanth Rao, RD, RBI by giving a Tree Certificate

August gathering…

Delegates during the Seminar

Panel – I members along with the Director.

Panel – II members along with the Director.