occupy protests ” which united the common man across continents. the protests gave vent to the seething anger that the people had against the unethical practices followed by the financial institutions, including an utter disregard for the silent majority. not only have the financial market players become an object of despise ; the regulators, governments and the central banks have also lost their credibility in the eyes of the public. desirability in indian context 27. having seen the twin peaks structure and a heightened global preference for this form, let us focus on its desirability in the indian context. is there a case for a separate agency for consumer protection? since so many agencies bcsbi, bo, consumer courts, courts of law, sebi, irda, pfrda, rbi, mca already exist, will a separate regulator dilute, duplicate or damage existing mechanism? or will the creation of a separate market conduct regulator facilitate greater customer protection? in the west, the financial crisis has demonstrably proved that shadow banks, with their large customer base, pose a huge systemic risk which only twin peaks regulation can effectively stem. we too have a plethora of financial products which fall between two stools. 28. in india, in order to ensure financial stability and closer monitoring of financial conglomerates, recently, rbi, sebi, irda and pfrda have entered into an mou enabling consolidated supervision and effective monitoring of financial conglomerates which presently exist. but, this mou broadly has a financial stability objective. 29. we need to have an open mind on the subject and look at it as an opportunity to bring customer - centricity to our regulation. the role regulators presently have in product design and pricing is minimal. the advent of market conduct regulation would mean greater role and responsibility of the regulator in design and pricing issues. this sort of an intervention may force the banks to focus more on appropriateness of selling strategies and product development. the pricing freedom conferred on banks will continue to be in place but would be ring - fenced with a lot of responsibility towards the consumers. 30. in the indian context, we additionally have the twin challenges of financial inclusion and financial education. the need of the hour is to ensure that our unbanked population gains access to formal sources of finance, their reliance on informal channels and on the shadow banking system subsides, and, in the process, consumer exploitation is curbed. a glaring example is the recent case of a chit

from all stakeholders there are ample opportunities in small businesses in india and such opportunities will transform the country in the coming future. for such transformation to happen there needs to be support from all stakeholders, government, banks, corporate, regulators, civic society, etc. technology universities may be set up and the government can tie up with the best in the world to help in research. we need to harness entrepreneurship and look at skill building. a scheme for utilizing ngos to provide training services to tiny micro enterprises could be encouraged. entrepreneurship development is important in view of its visible impact on wealth creation and employment generation. to facilitate and encourage this, skill building has been impressed upon by the prime minister ’ s task force for msmes. enterprise development centres ( edc ) should be set up by the central / state governments with incubators to provide training not just for setting up of new units but also to provide continuing education on different aspects like product design, packaging, technology upgradation, financial management and marketing. entrepreneurship development is the key factor to fight against unemployment, poverty and to prepare ourselves for globalization in order to achieve overall economic progress. initiatives by government of india / reserve bank of india as the level of financial exclusion is very high in the sector, government and reserve bank of india are taking the lead in facilitating access to finance by increasing the outreach of banking facilities to unbanked centers. financial access is critical for msmes growth and development. with an objective of ensuring uniform progress in provision of banking services in all parts of the country, banks have been advised to draw up a roadmap to provide banking services through a banking outlet in every unbanked village having a population of over 2, 000 by march 2012. such banking services need not necessarily be extended through a brick and mortar branch but could be provided through any of the various forms of information and communication technology ( ict ) - based models, including banking correspondents ( bcs ). about 74, 000 such unbanked villages have been identified and allotted to various banks through state level bankers committees ( slbcs ). as at the end of september 2011, as reported by the state level bankers ’ committees of various states / union territories, banking outlets have been opened in 42, 079 villages across the various states in the country. this comprises of 1127 branches, 39, 998 bcs and 954 other modes like rural atm, mobile van etc. further, the reserve bank of india has also advised banks to roll out