New Delhi [India], September 29 (ANI/SRV): Bharat Inclusion Initiative (BII), an effort toward bringing the benefits of technological progress to underserved populations, announced the launch of its book called 'Financial Inclusion of Bharat'- Insights into People, Markets and Startups. The book highlights the latest data on the impact of financial inclusion, especially for women. A 1 per cent increase in the number of BC agents corresponds to a 185 per cent increase in the number of women opening bank accounts.

The study also finds that the bank branch further by 1 additional kilometre leads to a drop of over 17 per cent in the number of bank accounts opened in a village. The book includes findings and tools for fintech startups on critical needs such as UI/UX design, consumer trust, and financial literacy. It also includes human stories - the People of Bharat - of the people from the low and middle-income segments in India.

The 'Financial Inclusion of Bharat' report was launched at the Global FinTech Festival hosted in Mumbai by XX and is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, J.P. Morgan, MetLife Foundation, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Omidyar Network India.

Supriya Sharma, Partner - Insights, CIIE.CO said "Between 2018-22, we embarked on over 24 research studies all aiming at unpacking different aspects of the complex problem of financial inclusion in India. Broadly speaking, this research was an attempt to contribute to three critical needs in the entrepreneurs' pursuit of boosting financial inclusion in India -, which customers, what product and the delivery mechanism, i.e. the startup. The book 'Financial Inclusion of Bharat' is a consolidation of our research in the space."

The book also offers a rich library of insights based on 120K+ data points influencing the discourse, policy and practice of financial inclusion across varied timelines. It also captures BII's diverse research on the sector, including human stories that help build empathy for the target Bharat customer and study that is aiding the building of more relevant products and solutions for this underserved segment.

"The need for financial inclusion persists despite enormous progress. Even today, banking transaction predominates over business correspondents despite their proximity to rural markets. This is where the Bharat Inclusion Initiative comes in and I am proud to launch the report at the Global FinTech Fest. The power of the research done by CIIE.CO and the team shows potential and benefits in multiple spin-off efforts, especially for women." said, Alkesh Wadhwani, Director Health, India Country Office at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

The book is divided into three sections - 'Insights into Customers' which carries chosen stories from the People of Bharat, 'Insights into Products and Markets', which encapsulates visualised insights from in-house and supported research studies and 'Insights into Startups' presents a depiction of case studies on inclusive fintech startups.

CIIE.CO set up the Bharat Inclusion Initiative (BII) in 2017-18 as a continuum of interventions to catalyse building impactful solutions to boost the financial inclusion of Bharat. Over its tenure, BII has accelerated, invested in, and supported over 60 startups that have delivered a range of financial services to over 30 million Bharat customers.

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