Inclusion into the financial mainstream of all poor people living in remote areas is one of the aspirations of the Government of India (GoI) and with the help of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), this aspiration has come into fruition. NABARD has championed the “Government’s Direct Benefit Transfer” (DBT) initiative to help ensure smooth flow of benefits to the remotely-located and poorly-connected people in the countryside through rural cooperative banks (RCBs) and regional rural banks (RRBs).

NABARD, through the Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and funds received from the GoI and with the guidance of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has enabled all RCBs and RRBs to onboard a “Core Banking Solution” (CBS), an online banking platform that serves as an instrument for the people to be included in the government’s financial inclusion program.

As a result, this program contributed significantly in increasing digital transactions reaching a level of 15,888 million transactions in 2017-2018 and disbursement of Rs 5546 billion through DBT in 43 schemes covering 56 ministries.

NABARD’s “Activities under Financial Inclusion Fund” won the 2019 ADFIAP Outstanding Project Awards under the technology development category.