. 28. finally, there are hand holding schemes such as the rajiv gandhi udyami mitra yojana ( rgumy ) which provide handholding support and assistance to the potential first generation entrepreneurs, who have completed edp or vocational training programmes. bis central bankers ’ speeches 29. can entrepreneurs be created? this question is cast in the mould of the nature vs. nurture debate. there are no answers. however, ingrained in the idea of edcs, the step programme and technology business incubation and msme initiatives is the idea that by creating the right and conducive ecosystem and by education and capacity building, entrepreneurship talent latent in society can be drawn out, and, perhaps, this conducive ecosystem can also create new entrepreneurs. inclusive growth and social entrepreneurship 30. from the 1990s india ’ s growth rate has accelerated from the hindu rate of growth of 3. 5 %. india has had much to celebrate over the past two decades on the economic front. it has become one of the world ’ s fastest growing economies. indian companies have made their mark abroad and indeed many are transforming themselves into multinationals with a global presence. most important, there is a new found sense of confidence. confidence reposed by the world in us and confidence by us in ourselves. there certainly is the feeling of “ yes, we can! ”. to sustain this momentum, it is important that the growth that we have seen is inclusive, people centric and translates into overall development. it is important that this feeling and confidence permeates all sections of society and none are left out of the india growth story. without this we will not be able to sustain high growth. 31. while the growth story has been impressive, there are causes for concern on other dimensions. issues of income distribution are important. we have a long way to go in addressing concerns of absolute poverty. in the context of human development, the country ranks 119 among 169 countries on the 2010 human development index published annually by the united nations development programme. we compare poorly on almost all indicators such as life expectancy, education and per capita income. we have issues of water, sanitation, power, infrastructure and environmental degradation. more importantly, there are issues of social and economic inequalities and multiple deprivations. all budding entrepreneurs have to face these challenges and find solutions. 32. with these concerns in view, government of india has adopted the strategy of inclusive growth in the ongoing eleventh

k c chakrabarty : furthering financial inclusion through financial literacy and credit counselling address by dr k c chakrabarty, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the launch of federal ashwas trust, kochi, 30 november 2009. * * * i am happy to be here this morning and feel privileged to launch the federal ashwas trust for running the financial literacy and credit counselling centres ( flcc ) of federal bank. at the outset, let me warmly congratulate my old friend and colleague shri m. venugopalan, md and ceo, federal bank, and his team for bringing the flcc of federal bank to fruition. even though kerala has the highest literacy rate amongst all states in the country, i am sure that centres such as these have a vital role to play in providing valuable services to the people in the district. as our hon ’ ble finance minister emphasized in his budget speech, our approach to banking and financial sector has been to ensure robust oversight and regulation while expanding financial access and deepening markets. the merit of this balanced approach has been borne out in the recent experience as the turbulence in the world financial markets has left the indian banking and financial sector relatively unaffected. the recent turmoil which engulfed the western world and its financial sector brought to even sharper focus the pressing need to protect the vulnerable from ponzi schemes through safety nets of financial education, counselling and timely advice. the establishment of flccs is an important milestone in furthering financial inclusion. as i have emphasised time and again, opening a no frills account is by itself not financial inclusion. that is just the beginning. financial inclusion is a much broader term which can be construed as the process of ensuring fair, timely and adequate access to financial services, namely, saving, credit, payment and remittance facilities, and insurance services at an affordable cost in a fair and transparent manner by the mainstream institutional players. educating people and making them financially literate thus becomes integral to achieving financial inclusion, which is why centres such as these are needed. with the above perspective, i organize the rest of my remarks under the following sections. in section 1, i propose to talk about the importance of financial education. in section 2, i would briefly touch upon the need for credit counselling. section 3 discusses the specific objectives of setting up the flccs. section 4 covers the role of rbi and, finally, i shall share some of