average of 0. 33 in 2009 – 10, odisha had a lower ratio of 0. 20 and had a rank of 16 among 23 states2. the sectoral analysis reveals that though the rural population of odisha is about 83 per cent of the total population, the credit flow to the agriculture remained low compared to other sectors. chattopadhyay, sadhan kumar ( 2011 ), financial inclusion in india : a case - study of west bengal, rbi working paper no. 8 / 2011. bis central bankers ’ speeches financial inclusion against this background, let me now turn to the financial inclusion strategy of the reserve bank and what are the specific steps taken for odisha? it is important to bring the poor and under - privileged sections of the society within the banking fold for inclusive growth. in this context, our recent financial inclusion drive has four key elements. first, provision of a set of basic financial products and services for the vulnerable and financially excluded sections. this includes a savings cum overdraft product in the form of no - frills account, and entrepreneurial credit in the form of kisan credit card ( kcc ) / general credit card ( gcc ). second, spread of financial literacy across all sections of the society by creating awareness about financial products and services among the population. third, greater regulatory incentives through liberalisation of interest rates and branch licensing. banks have been given complete freedom to price their advances so that lending in the rural areas could be a commercial proposition. given the lower penetration of formal credit and recourse to money lenders what matters is the availability of credit rather than the cost. banks have also been given the freedom to open branches in centres with population of less than 1, 00, 000. fourth, use of technology and innovative delivery models so that the cost for providing large quantum of small - ticket transactions could be brought down. this initiative included putting in place a system of business correspondent ( bc ) model to provide door - step delivery of financial products and services by authorized agents of banks ; and electronic benefit transfer ( ebt ) for routing of payments of the central and state government welfare schemes like social security pensions, mahatma gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme ( mnregs ), national old age pension scheme ( noaps ) directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. table 4 progress made under financial inclusion plans source : reserve bank of india bis central bankers ’ speeches in this direction, the effort so far has been to make basic

, dr. jha served as india ’ s ambassador to the united states and as governor of jammu and kashmir. he was also a member of the widely acclaimed brandt commission which made a persuasive case for north - south cooperation. that some of the issues raised in the brandt commission are relevant even today is a testimonial to the foresight and wisdom of the commission ’ s members such as dr. jha. 5. this lecture series in his name honours dr. jha ’ s outstanding service to the nation and his leadership of the reserve bank during a very critical period. so far, there have been 11 lectures. the last one was given by prof. john taylor in february 2010, two years ago, on “ lessons from the financial crisis for monetary policy in emerging markets ”. the lecture by prof. obstfeld this evening will be the 12th in the series. the distinguished speaker – prof. maurice obstfeld 6. it is perhaps presumptuous to introduce prof. maurise obstfeld, who is a distinguished academic and internationally renowned economist. regardless, i will indulge in the pleasure of doing so because the occasion demands it. 7. prof. obstfeld is currently the class of 1958 professor of economics and director of the center for international and development economic research ( cider ) at the university of california in berkeley. he got his doctorate from the massachusetts institute of bis central bankers ’ speeches technology ( mit ) in 1979 under the supervision of the legendary professor rudiger dornbusch of the textbook fame. thereafter, prof. obstfeld taught at columbia, university of pennsylvania and harvard before moving to uc, berkeley in 1989. 8. publishing papers is part of plying the trade of being an academic. a few of them also write text books. but far fewer of them write text books that become standard teaching material cutting across university and national barriers. prof. obstfeld belongs to that select category. many among the audience here must have learnt economics from his seminal textbook on international economics, co - authored with prof. paul krugman. 9. economists have been categorized in several ways – classical and neo - classical, macro and micro, keynesian and monetarist, free market and leftist. it is fashionable these days to categorize economists as salt water or fresh water to classify their academic persuasion which, curiously, seems to be correlated with whether their university is located inland or on the coast. prof