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Financial Inclusion – A Comprehensive Review

Introduction

Special issue of International Journal of Business and Globalisation; Deadline 31 Dec 2019

Call for Papers

International Journal of Business and Globalisation

Special Issue on: "Financial Inclusion – A Comprehensive Review"

Guest Editors:

  • Mr. Ardhendu Shekhar Singh, Dr. Bhama Venkataramani, Dr. Dilip Ambarkhane, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), India
  • Mr. Narasimhan Srinivasan, Independent Consultant, India

We invite researchers to contribute to an exclusive special issue that focuses on several dimensions of making financial inclusion effective.

The special issue’s objective is to advance existing conversations on significant issues revolving around financial inclusion, such as the definition of financial inclusion, meeasurement of financial inclusion, assessment of impact of various initiatives, and policies that comprehensively address issues of exclusion (both drafting and implementation).

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals include the eradication of hunger and poverty as a goal (Le Blanc, 2015). The World Bank estimates that currently there are 783 million poor people across the world. An inclusive financial system is necessary to enable poor and disadvantaged social groups to gain access to the formal financial systems of their countries and thus help in poverty reduction (Conroy, 2005).

Despite initiatives taken by governments in developing and developed countries for improving supply and demand for financial services, there is still a section of the population which is excluded (Kempson et al., 2000). Overall, Demirguc, Kunt and Klapper (2013) found that only 50% of adults in the world have access to a formal bank accounts. Micro, small and medium enterprises are equally plagued by the ill-effects of financial exclusion. It is important to note that these figures of financial inclusion are based on a very myopic view that takes into account only banking products and services. Even with this narrow definition of financial inclusion, the picture is grim. A more comprehensive view of financial inclusion, which includes other relevant services such as insurance, remittances, pensions, etc., will significantly increase the extent of exclusion, thus accentuating the need to address the issue more holistically.

One might attribute extent of exclusion to the following:

  1. Inadequate policy responses: Although many policies have been made in this direction, the results are far from satisfactory, leaving room for making better policies to address the situation effectively.
  2. Ineffective implementation: Exclusion is not restricted to a particular geographical region or to individuals. The financially excluded who are waiting to join the mainstream are individuals among the rural and urban population, small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), and also those from the agriculture sector. Exclusion also happens because of the non-availability of suitable financial products in the choice of offerings.
  3. Inappropriate methods to measure inclusion: The situation of inclusion would be grimmer if one considers the common practice of individuals opening multiple accounts and weeds them out, not just in banks but also in other institutions such as post offices. In addition, a large number of accounts are dormant, adding to the gravity of exclusion. The issue gets further aggravated because of a lack of data. In emerging countries such as India, there is not sufficient information about the use of financial services by individuals and firms. Data therefore has to be collected and interpreted carefully, so as to ensure that it is neither being overstated nor understated.
  4. Exclusion can happen due to multiple barriers, namely cost, access, financial literacy, lack of sustainable livelihood, products, price, market access and self. Broadly it can be classified as voluntary and involuntary exclusion.
  5. Definition of financial inclusion: It has been recognised at every level that financial services include credit, pension, insurance and remittances. But when it comes to implementation of financial inclusion schemes, the major focus remains on banking service, and other services are ignored.
  6. Mission drift of MFIs: There are organisations working with a mandate to serve the financially excluded, but they have been found to drift from the mission of providing inclusive finance. Hishigsuren (2007) has studied mission drift in respect of a microfinance organisation that serves poor women in rural India. The author found that the mission drift of that organisation was not a planned decision of management, but an outcome of the scaling-up process and the challenges that came with it.

Through this special issue, we aim to explore various dimensions of financial inclusion, an indicative list of which is mentioned above. With the increasing importance of qualitative research and the changing paradigm of research itself (Dana & Dana, 2005; Dana & Dumez, 2015), this special issue welcomes qualitative as well as quantitative and mixed methodologies, as long as they are well grounded in the literature.

References

Conroy, J. (2005). APEC and financial exclusion: missed opportunities for collective action?. Asia Pacific Development Journal, 12(1), 53-80.

Dana, L. P., & Dana, T. E. (2005). Expanding the scope of methodologies used in entrepreneurship research. International Journal of Entrepreneurship & Small Business, 2(1), 79-88.

Dana, L. P., & Dumez, H. (2015). Qualitative research revisited: epistemology of a comprehensive approach. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 26(2), 154-170.

Demirgüç-Kunt, A., & Klapper, L. (2013). Measuring financial inclusion: Explaining variation in use of financial services across and within countries. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2013(1), 279-340.

Hishigsuren, G. (2007). Evaluating mission drift in microfinance: lessons for programs with social mission. Evaluation Review, 31(3), 203-260.

Kempson, E. (2000). In or out?: Financial exclusion: Literature and research review. Financial Services Authority.

Krishnan, S. (2007). What Works: Ujjivan’s Dual Approach to Microfinance: Innovative solutions for delivering financial services in urban India. Institute for Financial Management and Research, Centre for Microfinance, Chennai, India.

Le Blanc, D. (2015). Towards integration at last? The sustainable development goals as a network of targets. Sustainable Development, 23(3), 176-187.

Rangarajan, C. (2008). Report of the committee on financial inclusion. Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

Srinivasan, N. (2012). Microfinance India: state of the sector report 2011. SAGE Publications India.

Subject Coverage

Suitable topics include, but are not limited, to the following:

  • Definitional issues of financial inclusion
  • Ineffective implementation of financial inclusion initiatives
  • Inappropriate methods to measure inclusion
  • Barriers to financial inclusion
  • Inadequate policy responses
  • Mission drift

Notes for Prospective Authors

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. (N.B. Conference papers may only be submitted if the paper has been completely re-written and if appropriate written permissions have been obtained from any copyright holders of the original paper).

All papers are refereed through a peer review process.

All papers must be submitted online. To submit a paper, please read our Submitting articles page.

Authors can register with our online submission system at

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They can find the special issue under Special Issue on: “ Financial Inclusion – A Comprehensive Review” on the pulldown menu during the submission process. If they cannot find the issue on the menu, please ask authors to enter the names of the guest editors and the title of the special issue in the “Notes” box (Part D) in step 1 of the submission process.

If you have any queries concerning this special issue, please email the Guest Editors:

Important Dates

  • Manuscripts due by: 31 December, 2019
  • Notification to authors: 1 March, 2020
  • Final versions due by: 1 June, 2020