growing number of customer complaints against the banks, also testify to this fact. in this context, financial education may help to prevent vulnerable consumers from falling prey to financially disquieting credit arrangements. there are however, issues that would need to be addressed upfront in the indian context. first, the regional profile in our country is diversified, with people across different regions being typically conversant in their vernacular languages. second, there exists a wide divergence in literacy levels across states. thus, for instance, in several states and union territories, the literacy rates in 2001 were well above the national average of 65. 4 per cent ; in contrast, there were also regions where literacy levels have remained perennially low. third, the dependency ratio varies markedly across states. fourth, within a state, there are marked differences between rural and urban areas. fifth, there is also a perceptible variation in the penetration of banking across regions. taken together, these unique conditions in our country create a role for the public policy to devise enabling mechanisms to improve the levels of financial education, reckoning the regional differences. to the extent the common person is better able to understand and appreciate the need for financial education, the task of the financial regulators is greatly simplified, lowering the overall costs of regulation. possible approaches it is an imperative of increasing globalisation that the difference in the pace of growth of the financial sector and financial education be minimized. there are several ways to go about this process. for purposes of illustration, these can be classified as institutional mechanisms, delivery mechanisms and decentralisation of efforts. institutional mechanisms as regards the institutional mechanism, there is near consensus on the fact that any attempt at expanding the outreach of financial education needs to start at the grass - roots. present day school pass - outs need to be a lot more financially literate than their parents were, if they are to manage their personal finances successfully through life. in addition, universities and business schools have an important role in training financial specialists able to provide the public with high quality advice on financial matters. yet another channel for imparting financial education could be the workplace where it can reach most of the working adults. it would, therefore, be a potent mechanism for providing information about a number of financial services such as retirement schemes and insurance. the role of financial institutions in providing financial education, not only to the clients but also to their own staff, needs to be better defined and further promoted. more information is needed at both

consumer demand. ” you would thus define a recovery as any growth above zero? “ no, but economic activity is gradually, though slowly, picking up. both manufacturers ’ and consumers ’ confidence has been quite good in recent times. however, in the first quarter of this year we saw slower growth. ” the troubles in iraq are causing oil prices to surge. how much of a risk is that? “ our mandate is to ensure price stability. if inflation in the medium term is higher than the target of close to, but below, 2 %, we are concerned. but we are also concerned if it is far lower. we are constantly asking ourselves why inflation is so low in the euro area. initially, this was due to lower energy and food prices. later, us dollar prices of these products stabilised, but the euro appreciated, causing inflation to fall still further. higher oil prices are sure to have an impact on inflation, at least if we do not experience a further appreciation of the euro. but it is also good news for the countries that produce energy, as in the case of the netherlands with its gas. ” bis central bankers ’ speeches at least if the winter is not too mild, since that cost the netherlands quite a bit in terms of gas sales at the beginning of the year. “ yes, indeed. is it not remarkable that the significant fall in economic activity in the netherlands in the first quarter was due primarily to this fact? many people simply don ’ t realise just how large the energy sector is. incidentally, one has to acknowledge that too low inflation, while being generally negative for growth and especially so in the euro area, does support real disposable incomes. that is one of the reasons why consumption in the euro area is rising. ” compared with the united kingdom and the united states, economic activity in europe is still rather weak. “ our recovery is in an earlier stage that that in the united states, the united kingdom and japan. that is why the ecb adopted a number of policy measures on 5 june : a lower interest rate ( and for banks a negative deposit rate ), the introduction of support for banks that is linked to the provision of credit, the so - called tltros and preparations for a programme for purchases of packaged corporate loans, asset - backed securities. in april, i already said in amsterdam that there are three situations that could induce the ecb to take action. one was an unwarranted tightening of the monetary