Pathways to Enhancing Financial Inclusion (PEFI) in India

Oct 25, 2018
1 min

Pathways to Enhancing Financial Inclusion (PEFI) is MSC’s flagship work on financial inclusion. The project has directly influenced 44 million lives in the 27 aspirational districts and indirectly impacted 727 million lives from India’s low- and moderate-income segments.

The usage and sustained adoption of financial products and services in India faces considerable challenges and disparities. Women’s financial inclusion in India, in particular, lags because of the demand-side constraints, lack of focus on women’s needs, and the financial behavior of supply-side players. The PEFI project started in 27 aspirational districts of India. Lessons from the project have been scaled pan-India (TFIIP).

In this project, we liaise with financial service providers and government stakeholders at the central, state, district, and block levels. We provide ground-up evidence to stakeholders on notable gaps in the use of financial services, support policy development, and cocreate and test solutions to enhance the uptake of financial services among women.

In the current phase of work, we focus on ways to increase the usage of financial products by women and men and address the challenges they face. Specifically, we will

Reduce the exclusion and improve the use of financial services,
Enhance adoption of digital financial services,
Identify opportunities for innovative product development, and
Improve user experience and quality of delivery of financial services for low- and moderate-income people.

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