answer important policy questions. once collected, the data must be so collated, organised, summarised, and described as to be eminently useful for policy purposes. for example, summary measures such as means, frequencies, standard deviations, and correlations and creating tables and graphs that illustrate important findings, are of immediate use to us, though they need to be viewed with great caution, especially in terms of level of confidence that one can have in the sample estimate. finally, a word of caution. if conducted properly, surveys can accurately represent the opinions and judgments of a population of people but this doesn't mean that these opinions are right. further, a survey can establish whether or not a relationship exists between two variables but may not be sufficient to determine the direction of causality. let me take this opportunity to share with you the survey - work by rbi in india and our current intentions. among the surveys conducted by rbi in the past, the most important one was “ all - india rural credit survey ”. results of this survey had significant bearing on subsequent credit polices of rbi. the objective of the survey was to collect data that would assist rbi and the government of india in formulating an integrated credit policy for rural credit and to assess the extent of indebtedness of rural households to financial institutions in the organised and unorganised sectors. after nationalisation of major commercial banks in 1969, there was need to evolve a suitable credit policy to meet the developmental needs of select sectors of high priority. in this context, rbi conducted two separate surveys viz., “ survey of small scale industries ” and “ survey of traders and transport operators ”. in addition, the “ survey of non - profit institutions serving households ” ( npishs ), conducted by the rbi, provided information about the structure, employment, financial resources, financial performance, etc., of npishs. furthermore, an ad hoc survey on “ remittance of non - resident indians ” helped the rbi in formulating policies on non - resident deposits. at present, we, in the rbi, are conducting around 20 surveys on a regular basis, with varying periodicity ; we also conduct several need - based ad hoc surveys. in view of the size of the population of the country – in terms of individuals, corporates and financial institutions – we are sometimes consciously not considering the entire sector while conducting some of the surveys because of cost, time and efforts involved. in such cases, we are conducting some

and individuals, we see a greater need and significant prospects for new forms of blended finance to support the recovery process and meet transition challenges. to this end, the bank is engaging with the financial industry, including dfis, and other key stakeholders on strategies to combine commercial lending with alternative funding sources such as philanthropic funds and social finance instruments. this includes upscaling existing pilot programmes. such blended finance solutions will be important to reduce debt levels and future risks to growth and financial stability. during this period, the bank has also established concessionary financing facilities dedicated to help smes automate and digitalise their operations. this will enable them to take advantage of new technologies to enhance income streams and build greater resilience. thirdly, we believe collaborative partnerships will play a larger and more critical role in shaping financial policy going forward. the world around us is changing so rapidly, and the challenges we face so multi - faceted, that our best hope for creating sensible financial policy and effective conditions for sustainable development must lie in working together. this has certainly been our experience in malaysia, particularly in recent periods. let me just mention three of these partnerships. in islamic and sustainable finance, the value - based intermediation community of practitioners or vbi cop has played a key role in driving the industry - wide implementation of vbi principles. the cop has been instrumental in developing practical frameworks, tools and guidance that have 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches been widely adopted by the industry in supporting the offering value - based financial solutions that are aligned with the sdgs. as an example, for green finance, the islamic banking industry is supporting approximately 4, 500 renewable energy and green projects worth more than usd2. 2 billion. on climate, the bank and securities commission malaysia have established the joint committee on climate change or jc3 to pursue collective climate actions. the committee brings regulators and the financial industry together to promote alignment and drive climate actions in five areas – risk management, governance and disclosures, green finance and innovation, data and capacity building. finally, sustainable finance would ring hollow without ensuring that our communities – especially our most vulnerable communities – have the means and ability to make good financial decisions. to this end, the bank, together with securities commission malaysia and various government ministries and agencies, collaborate through the financial education network to increase the level of financial literacy and access to information and resources on financial matters. the financial education network also serves as a focal point to drive the implementation of malaysia ’ s