The secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, said with all the financial institutions taking forward the initiative of financial inclusion the country was not far from covering the entire adult population with at least one bank account.

Vivek Joshi said on Saturday that both the public and private sector banks have been working towards reaching out to people with the scheme.

In this context, he called on the banks to work on KYC for the inoperative accounts, strengthen cyber security and nominations for the bank accounts.

Addressing the Global Inclusive Financial Summit 2023 in New Delhi earlier this week, Joshi said since the PM Jan Dhan Yojana was launched 51 crore bank accounts have been opened under the same.

However, the secretary stressed the need for the private sector banks to give a final push that could further help the government achieve the financial inclusion goals.

During the two-day summit, Inclusive Finance India Report 2023 was unveiled. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of a country’s multi-dimensional financial inclusion, landscape, including progress made, persistent gaps, innovative approaches, key enablers, and other important aspects.

It also emphasises the complexities involved in advancing women’s financial inclusion and highlights how financial inclusion is fundamentally about expanding timely access to a wide range of formal financial services needed by vulnerable, low-income, and excluded groups at an affordable cost.

State Bank of India (SBI) MD Vinay M Tonse, India Lead in the Financial Services for the Poor, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Dr. Pawan Bakshi and other top officials of financial institutions attended the summit. They shared their views on the outreach of the schemes and aspiring and existing micro-entrepreneurs, self-employed, women, and farmers.

They discussed various aspects of the financial inclusion in the formal and informal Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and the solutions that have been brought in the past couple of years for taking things forward.

One of the officials said that financing formal enterprises became easier after introducing the GST as it has brought more clarity and availability of correct data for processing loans.

Meanwhile, this year’s theme “Future of Finance – Inclusive and Equitable Growth for All” has underscored the summit’s commitment to fostering financial systems that will benefit individuals across economic strata.

The summit showcased how 40 per cent of the population embraced digital payments with the government ensuring the efficient transfer of social benefits to the poor through digital channels.