Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

S. Teki‚ R.K. Mishra

Financial inclusion is instrumental to the inclusive growth process and sustainable economic development of India. There has been increasing awareness and realisation that financial services hold the key to mainstreaming the poor and disadvantaged with the development of the country. Inadequacies in rural access to formal financial system and the seemingly extortionary terms of informal finance for the poor warrant a strong need and ample space for innovative approaches to serve the financial needs of India’s rural poor. Over the last decade and a half, toils have been made by government financial institutions, and NGOs, often in partnership, to develop new financial delivery approaches. Financial inclusion stands for provision of important financial services like credit, savings, insurance and remittances at an affordable cost to the disadvantaged, marginal and low-income groups across sections of the society. The primary goal of financial inclusion is to broaden the scope of activities of the formal financial system that could tag the poor people with low incomes into formal financial system in a gradual manner with focus on freeing the poor people from poverty.

The book has indeed come of age, and would become a significant source of work on microfinance and financial inclusion in India. This book is unique in that it combines financial inclusion, microfinance and special financial institutions striving for providing access to financial services to the poor. This aptly timed book will be relevant for the academic world, researchers, policymakers, government, business organisations, not for profit organisations and development thinkers.

S. Teki is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Management Studies, Adikavi Nannaya University, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India. He has 17 years of premier academic industry experience. His academic background includes management and commerce disciplines.        

R.K. Mishra is Senior Professor and Director, Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE), Hyderabad, India. His areas of interest include corporate governance, international management, international finance, public-private partnership, restructuring and environmental administration.