Spice Money Chaupal : Bringing Banking & Financial Services To Rural India's Doorstep

There is a popular proverb that comes to mind every time I think about interacting with people, whether for business or pleasure. The proverb says, "Knowledge is like a garden; if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested." This thought alone nudges me to engage in interesting conversations with people across age groups and backgrounds because I believe we learn more from these conversations and discussions than we do from books. It is this very thought that led to the inception of our Spice Money Chaupal idea. The idea was simple: have different people on board and share our thoughts and ideas to grow together and build a trusted community that collectively aims to uplift and empower Bharat.?

So far, we’ve had wonderful sessions with many industry leaders and inspirational individuals who have done exceptionally well in their own respective fields. In the 7th episode of Spice Money Chaupal, we were joined by Ram Rastogi , Digital Payments Strategist and Chairman - Governance Council at the Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) , Sunil Kulkarni , CEO of BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT FEDERATION OF INDIA , and Darpan Sharma , Founder and CEO of Arthum fintech pvt ltd , and we discussed how banks and fintechs are collaborating to bring banking and financial services to rural India's doorstep. I've taken some time to jot down the key takeaways I've had from this episode after being completely engrossed in the discussion and exploring the many different perspectives on the current situation of rural citizens. Here’s a quick glance:?

1. The rural consumer's ability to contribute to the economy will define our country's next 5–10 years. If the rural consumer goes from being a migratory worker to someone who creates assets in their own hometown, then automatically it impacts the country's GDP substantially.?
2. Going forward, we can envision that the BC agents can eventually become a bank branch and offer all services to rural consumers in a kirana store, almost akin to a banker in an urban setting.
3. India has one of the largest young populations in the world. If we can educate the young Indians who are tech-savvy and reside in rural India about transacting online themselves by issuing a rural centric superapp? As it is, the youth are already driving the BC network. This is a fundamental step to empowering the next billion customers, financially and digitally.?
4. Financial inclusion is not limited to basic banking services; it is also insurance, lending, and much more. We need to broaden the term in its true sense to do right by the rural community.?

This is just a start; we have to keep strengthening the financial inclusion index of the country, which includes access, usage, quality, and the movement of bringing everyone into the formal financial fold of the country. These are only a few of my important takeaways; do watch the full episode and share your views with me. Let’s talk!