Banking innovations for financial inclusion (A study on smart cards)

Financial inclusion has been a focus in recent times. With the introduction of liberalisation, the financial systems have come to play a much active role in the allocation of resources than in the past. The role of financial inclusion expected to play major role much larger than present. Research in the last decade has shown that there exist a robust link between a well-functioning financial system and inclusive growth. The banking industry has shown tremendous growth in volume and complexity during the past decade. The pace of development for the Indian banking industry has been tremendous over the past decade. The financial inclusion has received a special attention from the Indian government and reserve bank of India (RBI) in recent times. The Indian banking sector has one of the very few to actually maintain resilience while continuing to provide growth opportunities a feat unlike to be matched by other developed banks. Banks began to use technology to provide better quality of services at greater speed. Internet banking and mobile banking made it convenient for customers to do their banking from geographically diverse places. The financial inclusion meant for delivery of banking services at affordable cost to the vast sections of disadvantaged and low income groups. The present study highlights the technological advances in banking sector and different types of payment systems. The study also focuses the changes occurring in the recent Indian banking sector and how thus changes are likely to influence the way banking will be done in future.