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Higher FDI cap won't affect PSBs' financial inclusion goals: UCO Bank CEO
New Delhi
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The government's guarantee mechanism for startups is likely to improve lending to the sector in the coming years, says UCO Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD&CEO) Ashwani Kumar. In a telephonic interview with Harsh Kumar, he also discusses the expansion plans of the bank. Edited excerpts:
How is your bank addressing inoperative accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)?
We are conducting a saturation drive for inoperative PMJDY accounts, meeting customers one-on-one to encourage them to operate their accounts. The main issue we face is that some customers have multiple accounts across different banks, and are receiving
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Indian Express
9 hours ago
- Indian Express
Knowledge Nugget: RBI's Financial Inclusion Index – A must-know for UPSC aspirants
Take a look at the essential concepts, terms, quotes, or phenomena every day and brush up on your knowledge. Here's your knowledge nugget on the Financial Inclusion Index of the RBI. (Relevance: Questions have been asked in UPSC Prelims and Mains on financial inclusion. RBI, tasked with managing the country's monetary policy, publishes such indices to provide an overview of initiatives taken for financial inclusion. In this regard, this is a must-do topic for your exam.) Financial inclusion across the country improved to 67 in March 2025, up from 64.2 in March 2024, according to the recently released Financial Inclusion Index (FI-Index) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 'Improvement in FI-Index in FY2025 is contributed by usage and quality dimensions, reflecting deepening of financial inclusion, and sustained financial literacy initiatives,' the RBI said in a release. 1. The FI-Index has been conceptualised as a comprehensive index incorporating details of banking, investments, insurance, postal as well as the pension sector in consultation with the government and respective sectoral regulators. 2. A unique feature of the index is the quality parameter which captures the quality aspect of financial inclusion as reflected by financial literacy, consumer protection, and inequalities and deficiencies in services. 3. The index captures information on various aspects of financial inclusion in a single value ranging between 0 and 100, where 0 represents complete financial exclusion and 100 indicates full financial inclusion. 4. The FI-Index comprises of three broad parameters: Access (having a weight of 35 per cent in the index), Usage (weight 45 per cent), and Quality ( weight 20 per cent). The weight of each parameter comprises various dimensions, which are calculated based on a number of indicators. 5. The FI-Index has been constructed without any base year, and as such it reflects cumulative efforts of all stakeholders over the years towards financial inclusion. It is published annually in July every year. 'Financial inclusion has been a key tool used by policymakers and governments globally to reduce inequalities, strengthen livelihoods of people at the bottom of the pyramid, and spur growth,' Soumya Kanti Ghosh wrote in the Indian Express. 📍Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY): It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 28, 2014, with a mission of financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, basic savings & deposit accounts, remittance, credit, insurance, pension in an affordable manner. Under the PMJDY, there are no account opening charges, no account maintenance charges, and no minimum balance charges. Free RuPay debit card, with in-built accident insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh, and access to overdraft facility of up to Rs 10,000, are other major features of the scheme. PMJDY accounts are eligible for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency Bank (MUDRA) scheme. 📍Digital India: It was launched on July 1, 2015, by the Union Government with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It comprises various initiatives under a single programme, each targeted to prepare India for becoming a knowledge economy and for bringing good governance to citizens through synchronised and coordinated engagement of the entire government. Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) App, Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), Aarogya Setu app, Digital India BHASHINI, and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) are some of the initiatives under the Digital India programme. 📍Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY): It is a one-year life insurance Scheme renewable from year to year. It offers coverage of Rs. Two lacs for death due to any reason and is available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a bank account. 📍Aadhar inclusion: The pillar of financial inclusion is the JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) trinity, which has expanded the coverage of direct benefit transfers. Through the implementation of its biometric identification system 'Aadhar', the government has enabled easy accessibility for opening bank accounts, and thus leading to financial inclusion. 📍Atal Pension Yojna: Launched in 2015 by the Government of India, the scheme is particularly targeted at unorganised sector workers, who often lack access to formal pension schemes. APY encourages workers to save voluntarily for their retirement, thereby ensuring a secure financial future. Under APY, the subscribers would receive the fixed minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month, Rs. 2000 per month, Rs. 3000 per month, Rs. 4000 per month and Rs. 5000 per month at the age of 60 years, depending on their contributions, which itself would be based on the age of joining APY. The age bracket for joining APY is 18 to 40 years. 📍Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY): It is a one-year personal accident insurance Scheme, renewable annually. It provides coverage for death/disability due to an accident and is available to people in the age group of 18 to 70 years, having a bank account and who give their consent to join and enable auto-debit. 1. The Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025 was released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in May 2025. According to the survey, there has been a marked increase in the number of Indians in rural areas who have been engaging in online banking, with the rise being particularly noteworthy among young women. 2. More women in rural areas can conduct online banking transactions, as the proportion of females that could perform them surged to 30.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2025, sharply higher than 17.1 per cent in 2022-23. 3. As per the survey's results, 51.4 per cent of females in rural areas in the 15-24 years age bracket reported the ability to perform online banking transactions, more than double the 19.6 per cent in 2022-23 as per the ministry's Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey for 2022-23 (July-June), released in October 2024. 4. In urban areas, where online banking penetration levels were higher to begin with, the increase was of a smaller magnitude, with 62.4 per cent of respondents aged 15 years and above saying they engaged in online banking, up from 50.6 per cent in 2022-23. 5. The survey, part of the 80th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS), was conducted in the first three months of 2025 and covered the entire country except for some villages in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. With reference to India, consider the following: (UPSC CSE 2010) 1. Nationalization of Banks 2. Formation of Regional Rural Banks 3. Adoption of village by Bank Branches Which of the above can be considered as steps taken to achieve the 'financial inclusion' in India? (a) 1 and 2 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 (Source: PM Jan Dhan Yojana has accelerated financial inclusion, reduced inequalities, Swipe, tap, exclude: The uneven march towards financial inclusion, Surge in number of rural women able to do online banking, UPI a key enabler: Survey, Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram channel – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and follow us on Instagram and X. 🚨 Click Here to read the UPSC Essentials magazine for July 2025. Share your views and suggestions in the comment box or at Khushboo Kumari is a Deputy Copy Editor with The Indian Express. She has done her graduation and post-graduation in History from the University of Delhi. At The Indian Express, she writes for the UPSC section. She holds experience in UPSC-related content development. You can contact her via email: ... Read More
India Today
a day ago
- India Today
Most Indians have bank accounts now, but does access mean empowerment?
India's journey toward financial inclusion has been transformative. As per the latest report from the World Bank, last year, 89 per cent of Indians aged more than 15 now own a bank account, up from just 35 per cent in 2011. This 54 percentage-point jump is one of the steepest globally and reflects the impact of reforms like the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, simplified KYC norms, and last-mile banking even though access to accounts is nearly universal, meaningful usage still lags. Roughly 14 per cent of adults in India do not actively use their accounts, significantly higher than the four per cent average across other low- and middle-income countries. In fact, taking India out of the average brings it down to just three per cent. Access alone doesn't guarantee India's most common reason for financial exclusion bucks the global trend. In most low- and middle-income economies, the leading barrier is a lack of money. In India, however, the top reason given by unbanked adults is that a family member already has an account. Even so, not having enough money, the cost of financial services, and distance to financial institutions are frequently cited by about half of the unbanked population. Gender parity has improved steadily regarding account ownership, and mobile phone ownership, a critical enabler of digital finance, is higher among men (77 per cent) than women (54 per cent) in India. About one in five women (22 per cent) and one in four men (25 per cent) use basic phones, while a notable share of women still do not own any phone, highlighting a persistent gender gap in digital 2021 and 2024, more men than women own active accounts, though the gender gap in ownership of active accounts as a percentage of account owners fell from 12 percentage points in 2021 to seven in 2024. As per the World Bank, this may be due to the large increase in women receiving government-to-person payments digitally over the same 2021 and 2024, the share of inactive accounts among both men and women declined, and the gender gap in active account usage also account ownership has grown from 51 per cent in 2011 to 79 per cent in 2024, with India's figure at 89 per cent. Yet, India and China also house one of the largest absolute numbers of unbanked adults due to their sheer population size. In fact, 53 per cent of the world's unbanked adults, or 650 million people, live in just eight countries, including India, China, Bangladesh, etc.- Ends
Business Standard
a day ago
- Business Standard
UCO Bank down for fifth straight session
UCO Bank is quoting at Rs 30.99, down 2.05% on the day as on 13:19 IST on the NSE. The stock tumbled 6.27% in last one year as compared to a 3.07% rally in NIFTY and a 2.7% fall in the Nifty PSU Bank index. UCO Bank is down for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 30.99, down 2.05% on the day as on 13:19 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.41% on the day, quoting at 25163.2. The Sensex is at 82549.91, up 0.44%.UCO Bank has added around 4.27% in last one Nifty PSU Bank index of which UCO Bank is a constituent, has increased around 0.87% in last one month and is currently quoting at 7006.35, down 0.1% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 53.06 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 111.67 lakh shares in last one month. The PE of the stock is 16.24 based on TTM earnings ending March 25.
