Jamshedpur : XLRI Jamshedpur and the National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development(NABARD), the apex in financial inclusion, conducted a national level felicitation- Innovation4Impact(i4i), awarding innovators and social entrepreneurs who have made a difference to the life at the bottom of the pyramid by enhancing access to finance.
The competition awarded seven successful models involving livelihood initiatives with finance, Kolkata based microfinance institution Bandhan(Targeting the Hard Core Poor), Hyderabad based Sub-K iTransactions Ltd(Mobile Technology & Branchless Banking), Pune based Leaps and Bounds(SHG Accounting & Database System), Reserve Bank of India Chennai(Financial Gallery), Rang De(Peer-to-Peer Lending), Ahmedabad based VimoSEWA(Community-Based Micro Insurance) and the Weather Risk Management Services Ltd(WeatherInsurance Services).
� We have introduced this joint XLRI-NABARD Award �Innovation4Impact� , an innovation, instruments and institutions, that impact lives of people by linking finance to livelihoods.
We are happy to join the apex institution NABARD in felicitating the innovators, who will receive our joint recognition for their contribution towards in the area of inclusive finance, said Dr HK Pradhan, the convener of the conference & Professor of Finance and Economics at XLRI Jamshedpur.
The competition in particular also provided an opportunity for a �face to face� interaction through a knowledge fair where innovators could showcase and explain their projects� to the delegates and social entreprenuers.
Subrata Gupta, chief General Manager, financial inclusion department of NABARD said that joint endeavor with XLRI is expected to provide a platform to promote innovations, disseminate the new products devised and new technologies to reach underserved markets. He said that the idea is to popularize successful best practices in the arena of financial inclusion that are recognized as replicable models.
Fr E Abraham, S.J. director of XLRI commended on the initiative and wished that pro-poor innovations such as the ones awarded have potential to reach millions on banked who lack access to savings and insurance.
He expressed happiness to have the conference deliberating on agendas of inclusive growth and innovations that adds significantly to XLRI�s mission of social engagement.
