Date:27/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/27/stories/2006062705241700.htm

Business

Panel for financial inclusion

NEW DELHI: A high-power committee headed by the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, C. Rangarajan, was constituted on Monday to prepare a strategy for expanding financial services to vulnerable groups, including marginal farmers.

The move follows Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's suggestion to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to set up a committee for financial inclusion at the Canara Bank function in Bangalore on June 23. The ten-member committee will submit its report by November 30 after studying the pattern of exclusion from access to financial services disaggregated by region, gender and occupational structure. The committee will identify the barriers confronted by vulnerable groups in accessing credit and financial services, including supply, demand and institutional constraints.

It will also review the international experience in implementing policies for financial inclusion and examine their relevance and acceptability to India.

Besides Dr. Rangarajan, the committee includes among others Vinod Rai, Special Secretary in the Finance Ministry, M. B. N. Rao, Canara Bank CMD,Mahinder Dev, Director with the Centre for Economic and Social Studies, R Gopalakrishnan, Tata Sons ED, and Y. S. P. Thorat, NABARD Chairman, an official statement said. — PTI