Igniting spark 'In-side India'

CNBC-TV18's special show, Inside India is dedicated to understanding the hardships faced by our social sector and examines the initiatives taken by the government and private players to bridge the gaps. The show attempts to connect the dots and look inside India to find ideas for its inclusive growth.

Six hundred million Indians are still out of the formal banking net. This shows the contribution of the micro finance industry to financial inclusion and learning from the Andhra Pradesh crisis. Over 79 million no frill accounts have been opened in the villages in the last three years. Inside India examines the efficacy of the business correspondent models. The show also looks at how the government's Unique Identification (UID) project can create a new foundation for financial inclusion. Mobile hand held teller machines, bank correspondents disbursing money to daily wage workers on the site itself and even collecting their savings to remit into distant bank accounts. These men and women are building the roadway under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(NREGA) in a village, three hours from Patna. The closest brick and mortar bank branch is a couple of hours away from the village and it is not surprising that very few of them have actually ever visited it. The reasons vary from unawareness and intimidation of approaching the bank to the expenditure incurred in repeatedly making visits to the bank. The new banking model which has at its heart in human manifestation of the bank, powered by technology is fast becoming the main reason for stay. Since 2006, close to 45% of the villages in India are being banked in this fashion. But to understand the path ahead, it is important to understand the challenges in the story so far because the path to financial inclusion is not an easy one to tread. Over 600 million people in India continue to remain without access to finance despite five decades of efforts to bring about financial inclusion. The push towards urban cooperative banking in the 1960's to finance Small Scale Industries (SSI), and then the nationalisation of commercial banking system in 1969, followed by the introduction of regional rural banks in 1975 and then finally local area banks in 1996. Also watch the accompanying videos...