This paper is published in Volume-6, Issue-6, 2021
Area
Economics And Computer Science
Author
Shivang Kukreja
Org/Univ
Delhi Public School RK Puram, New Delhi, India
Pub. Date
15 January, 2021
Paper ID
V6I6-1279
Publisher
Keywords
Microfinance, Microfinance Institution (MFI), Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, COVID-19 Home Isolation Program

Citationsacebook

IEEE
Shivang Kukreja. Financial inclusion project for the residents of Sangam Vihar, Delhi | Impact of COVID-19, International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, www.IJARIIT.com.

APA
Shivang Kukreja (2021). Financial inclusion project for the residents of Sangam Vihar, Delhi | Impact of COVID-19. International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology, 6(6) www.IJARIIT.com.

MLA
Shivang Kukreja. "Financial inclusion project for the residents of Sangam Vihar, Delhi | Impact of COVID-19." International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology 6.6 (2021). www.IJARIIT.com.

Abstract

Microfinance plays an important role in providing financial products and services to developing countries across the globe. The term Microfinance includes a large range of financial products and services which includes deposits, loans, money transfers, insurance, savings, micro-credit, etc. In a country like India, where most of the population lives in rural or semi-urban areas (more than 70 percent) and where a large part of the population (more than 60%) still depends on agriculture, microfinance is crucial for the poor and low-income groups. Microfinance becomes important in developing countries where a large section of society does not have access to banking and credit facilities. Microfinance does not only help with financial products, but it also plays an important role in the socio-economic improvement of society. In India, microfinance is dominated by Self Help Groups (SHGs)-Bank linkage program which is aimed at providing a cost-effective mechanism for financial products and services to the intended users. The challenges with Microfinance are the extent of coverage of all these programs. Some states in the country have more active SHGs to drive microfinance whereas other states have limited presence. In a state like Delhi, as per Bharat Microfinance Report 2019, there are 12 MFIs that have operations with a total of 48 branches. The outreach by Microfinance Institutes (MFI) in Delhi was 0.95 lakhs in 2019, which is less than 0.5% of the total population of Delhi. So, the state of Delhi is underserved by the MFIs. The recent impact of COVID-19 on the livelihood of poor people across the country was profound. The country imposed a complete lockdown from March 22, 2020, which caused a lot of hardship for all people. During the lockdown period, the people who suffered the worst were daily wage earners as they had no source of income. Most of the government effort during COVID-19 was focused on home isolating the people who tested positive and moving the critical patients to the hospital. The government provided medical kits and drugs for the patients who were under home isolation but there was no monetary compensation for people who lost employment. The double impact of COVID-19 and unemployment was visible on people living in the slums of Delhi. The motivation for this research project was to run an extensive financial inclusion survey in the slums of Delhi to identify the extent of financial inclusion coverage. Post the survey, the objective was to share the data with the MFIs and connect them with the residents who would qualify for a microloan. The second objective was to create an information portal for the residents of Delhi on various central and state government initiatives on financial inclusion. This information portal was designed to include details of various schemes and the requirements of opening bank accounts, applying for a PAN card and an Aadhaar card. This initiative was to improve the financial literacy of the residents of Delhi.