The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wants to learn from Bangladesh regarding expansion of mobile and agent banking as part of efforts to enhance their financial inclusion.
Dr Raghuram Rajan, governor of the RBI, expressed the Indian central bank's willingness on Friday while talking to a group of journalists at a city hotel on the sidelines of the SAARC central bank governors' symposium.
"I want to learn from Bangladesh, especially the process of financial inclusion through mobile banking," Dr Rajan said.
The RBI governor also said India was trying to spread mobile banking service to bring more people under the financial inclusion programme.
A survey, conducted by the Financial Inclusion Insights last year, showed that in Bangladesh 3.0 per cent of the adult population had active mobile phone accounts while the ratio was 0.1 per cent in India and 0.3 per cent in Pakistan.
Again in Bangladesh 22 per cent adults used mobile banking money while the ratio was below 1.0 per cent in India.
Dr Rajan also said it was important to use non-smart phones for mobile financial services to make it less costly.
Mobile banking in Bangladesh is mostly operated through non-smart or traditional mobile phone sets.
The RBI chief also said India introduced agent banking a few years back in a different way but needed to know from Bangladesh's experience for improvement.
In December 2013 the Bangladesh Bank formally introduced agent banking in rural areas where no banking service was available.
Later in January last urban areas, not covered by the traditional banking system, also came under the agent banking service coverage.
Under the agent banking, a person is appointed as an agent of a bank to disburse a limited amount of credit, remittance and collect bills and loan instalments.
Last year a survey of the RBI found that around 47 per cent of agents were untraceable and a significant number of the available agents had never conducted even a single transaction.
Emphasising financial inclusion, Dr Rajan also said it should not be overestimated, nor should it be undermined.
A report in the Financial Times, citing Latin American experience, said financial inclusion doesn't necessarily lead to social inclusion.
When his attention was drawn to the report, Dr Rajan said socio-economic conditions in Latin America were different from countries like Bangladesh and India.
"It is a good thing and has its importance for this region," he added.
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