the mature markets. third, credit counselling can be a potent tool for financial entities to expand the reach of financial education. fourth, it might be of interest for reputed organisations like the national council of applied economic research ( ncaer ) to conduct surveys at periodic intervals to ascertain the degree of consumer awareness about financial products and services. the findings emanating from such studies could be shared with financial entities to enable them to address the gaps in their service delivery and promote informed decision - making. fifth, several bodies, such as the financial planning standards board of india ( fpsbi ), a professional standards setting body constituted with public - private enterprise, are reportedly making proactive efforts to uniformly regulate personal financial planning practitioners. much more of such efforts will be required to guide the development and promotion of standards for financial planning professionals to benefit and protect the public in the country. role of the rbi the rbi, on its part, wishes to advance the cause of financial education in our country as part of an overall strategy. the strategy pursued in this regard can be elucidated as follows. concerted efforts are underway to expand the reach of formal finance in view of recent emphasis on financial inclusion. this needs to be buttressed with financial education to generate greater customer awareness and understanding of financial products and services. concurrently, a process of credit counselling is being encouraged to help all borrowers, but particularly those in distress to overcome current financial problems and gain access to the structured financial system. the banking codes and standards board of india ( bcsbi ) has also been instituted which is expected to ensure that the banks formulate and adhere to their own comprehensive code of conduct for minimum standards of banking services, which individual customers can legitimately expect. and finally, a banking ombudsman scheme has been instituted for redressal of grievances against deficient banking services, covering all the states and union territories. the rbi has also been exploring the possibility of instituting a depositor protection fund ( dpf ). the fund can be utilised towards generating greater awareness for the common man on issues relating to financial education and counselling. this could be complemented with providing greater role to our regional offices to promote financial education in their respective jurisdictions. conclusion the international co - operation of the kind which oecd and pfrda have embarked upon is a welcome development. i would like to congratulate them for undertaking this useful initiative and thank them for giving me an opportunity to be

education. it has recently released a major international study on financial education titled'improving financial literacy'encompassing practical guidelines on good practices in financial education and awareness. these guidelines, in the form of a non - binding recommendation, are designed to help countries devise and implement effective financial education programmes, drawing from the best practices in this area in oecd countries. they promote the role of all the main stakeholders in financial education : governments, financial institutions, employers, trade unions and consumer groups. in addition, they also draw a clear distinction between public information provided by the government and regulatory authorities, and that supplied by the financial analysts. it is also important to devise ways to ascertain whether financial education has achieved its objective, such as generating increased consumer awareness or a changed behaviour, a point i will return to a little later. the balance of evidence, however, suggests that such programmes tend to be effective. for instance, in the united states, it has been observed that workers increase their participation in retirement savings plans funded by employee and employer contributions when the latter offers financial education programmes, whether in the form of brochures or seminars. consumers who attend one - on - one counselling sessions on their personal finances have fewer delinquencies. indian realities prior to the initiation of financial sector reforms in the early 1990s, the indian financial system essentially catered to the needs of planned development. customers had little choice in financial instruments. the segmented and underdeveloped financial markets meant that their exposure to risk was also limited. in such a situation, customers could employ their basic skills to invest in simple financial products with assured returns, unconcerned about their risks. the relevance of financial education was, at best, limited. pursuant to the process of globalisation, the economic and financial landscape in india is undergoing a significant transformation. in the process, the economy has become more diversified with new sources of growth. in tandem with these changes, we have seen the modernisation of the financial sector that has also become increasingly more diversified to meet the new requirements of the economy. the financial sector has also increasingly leveraged on advances in technology which has significantly changed the way financial business is being conducted. as market advances continue to expand the range of financial products and services, consumers are being faced with increasingly multifaceted choices and options in the management of their personal finances and exposure to a gamut of risks. in this complex financial landscape, it becomes important for consumers to have improved access to