Published Paper Details:

India is on the move towards emerging as a global economic super power with a positive growth rate of 8.7 % in 2020-'21. Thirty years after the initiation of economic reforms, different sectors of Indian economy are witnessing its positive reflections. But still there exists a vast majority of marginalized and vulnerable sections of our population being deprived of the benefits of this accelerating economic growth particularly in rural India. Since independence the policy makers are constantly designing policies to make the growth pattern more inclusive in nature. The priority given to inclusive growth strategy in the eleventh plan is a relevant example. Improving the access to finance by the low income and marginalized people is a prerequisite for inclusive growth. But the data published in the NSSO (55th Round) survey was so alarming that 51.4% of the total farmer households in India are financially excluded from both the formal and informal sources of credit. And of the total farmer households, only 27% access formal sources of credit. Though numerous financial inclusion programmes like National Rural Financial Inclusion Plan (NRFIP), "Swabhiman", "Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana etc. were launched by different governments, it is significant to note that the very reason behind the much slow pace of diffusion of many of these financial inclusion strategies, especially in the rural areas is the prevailing low level of financial literacy. As per the Global Financial Literacy Survey 2015 conducted by Standard & Poor, it is found that 76% of Indian adults do not understand basic and key financial concepts. The advancements in the field of Information and Communication Technology can be creatively used to empower the financial literacy instruments to reach the unbanked population. The present paper is an attempt to study the need, scope, initiatives and issues regarding the financial literacy campaigns in accomplishing the financial inclusion strategies in India.