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© 2018, IJCSE All Rights Reserved 20
International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Open Access
Research Paper Vol.6, Special Issue.9, Nov 2018 E-ISSN: 2347-2693
Empowering Women Through Financial Literacy in Rajasthan
B. Arora1*, S. Sharma2, M. S. Pahwa 3
1Dept. of Commerce, School of Business and Commerce, Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur ,India
2Dept. of Commerce, School of Business and Commerce, Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur, India
3Dept. of Commerce, School of Business and Commerce, Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur, India
*Corresponding Author: bhaskararora777@gmail.com, Tel.: +91 7568111710
Available online at: www.ijcseonline.org
Abstract— The paper unfolds the dearth and bottlenecks of microfinance\micro credit facilities to women in Rajasthan. The
study focuses on the financial literacy among women in rural area as compared to urban women. The contribution in GDP of
rural women is exorbitant which indicates potential growth but literature shows lack of proper financial support to women has
affected their contribution in GDP and has led to lower contribution in the economic growth of rural population in Rajasthan.
The Paper focuses on the level of financial literacy among the rural woman of Rajasthan.
Keywords— Financial literacy, financial inclusion,Women empowerment
I. INTRODUCTION
Finance is necessary to transfigure ideas into business since
finance is oxygen for business [Yallapragada,2011]. In order
to make optimal utilization of finance, financial literacy is
crucial. Financial literacy refers to comprehend the
application of money and take proper judgment regarding
better utilization of money. Government policies will not be
fruitful for the people if they don’t have the knowledge about
the policies and how Introduction should lead the reader to
the importance of the study; tie-up published literature with
the aims of the study and clearly states the rationale behind
the investigation. It should state the purpose and summarize
the rationale for the study and gives a concise background[1].
Use references to provide the most salient background rather
than an exhaustive review. The last sentence should
concisely state your purpose for carrying out the study or a
summary of the results[2].
II. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
1] To study the current status of financial literacy among
Women in Rajasthan.
2] To identify various Government policies aiming at
financial inclusivity of rural women in India (especially
Rajasthan).
3] To suggest some measures for promoting financial
inclusivity among Women in Rajasthan.
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study is based on secondary data collection from the
RBI website on state-wise statistics published related to
financial inclusion and practice and other government
website and other net based resources.
To take benefits from it. Illiteracy, lack of infrastructure and
dearth of awareness are the roadblocks in the path of
financial inclusion(Sibi,M. S.&Ananth,2017). Though
literacy rate among urban women is 79.01 per cent and
among rural women is 57.39 per cent still India stood at 23rd
place in respect of financial literacy, having only 35 per cent
of Indians as financially literate (Visa, Financial Literacy
Survey,2014).
IV. FINANCIAL LITERACY IN RAJASTHAN
Rajasthan holds one of the lowest financial literacy rates
among Indian states. It is characterized by a male dominating
society where female literacy is 52.12 percent, out of which
only 12 per centare financially literate (national centre for
financial education,2015), opportunities for women are in
paucity.
According to Mandell (2007) financial literacy is “The
abilityto evaluate the new and complex financial instruments
and make informed judgments in both choice of instruments
and extent of use that would be in their own best long-run
interests”.
According to S&P survey, 2015 only 20 percent of Indian
women are financially literate. This is an alarming situation
for Rajasthan. There are total 44,795 villages (Directorate of
Census Operations Rajasthan)., among them only 1,778 skill
centres are still incapable of sufficiently training and
providing employment to all the rural youth of Rajasthan.
In order to cope up with the situation, Rajasthan Government
should encourage entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur is a French
word coined by the economist Jean-Baptiste Say, and usually
is translated as, "adventurer". When a person starts a venture,
one is considered Entrepreneur(Williams, Colin,2011), but to
start a venture one needs a lot of effort and support from
International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Vol.6(9), Nov 2018, E-ISSN: 2347-2693
© 2018, IJCSE All Rights Reserved 21
government as well as family. Entrepreneurship means risk
and risk indicate uncertainty. This element of uncertainty,
along with dearth of resources, works as a hindrance in
opening up of new business. An entrepreneur not only
creates job for himself but for others too.
(Adegoke,2003).Therefore, entrepreneurship should be
encouraged.
To start a business initially one should be catered with basic
needs like Financial Education, right to equality and support
from society. Global peace foundation states that “Educate a
Woman and You Educate a Family; Educate a Girl and You
Educate the Future” with the same approach provide finance
to women and a family will be prosperous and provide
finance to women entrepreneur whole economy will be
prosperous. Therefore, Government should focus more on
encouraging Women entrepreneurs. Indian women
contributed just 17 per cent of national GDP, which is less
than half the global average of 37 per cent, according to a
McKinsey study. This shows the scope of work to be done
for the participation of women in GDP. This can be achieved
with the help of financial inclusion[6].
V. FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN INDIA
The term ‘financial inclusion’ was used for the first time in
April 2005 in the Annual Policy Statement presented
by Venugopal Reddy the then Governor of India. The main
focus of this concept is to provide banking services to rural
area and transform them from financially excluded to
financially included.Financial literacy is the foundation of
financial inclusion[7]. Financial inclusion (FI) may be
defined as the process of ensuring access to financial services
and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable
groups such as weaker sections and low-income groups at an
affordable cost[8].
VI. POLICY IMPLEMENATION
National mission for financial inclusion was commenced in
the form of Pradhan Mantri Jan dhan yojana by Narendra
Modi in the year 2014. Under this yojana each account
holder was provided with RuPay debit card to link them with
the other financial services of banks. An accident insurance
cover of Rs. 100,000 was also provided to each account
holder and life insurance coverage of Rs. 30,000 and an
overdraft facility of Rs. 5,000 was given for those opening
their accounts before January 26. To make sure that the
yojana was implemented efficiently, RBI took the help of
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Because of
the steps taken and rebates provided by the government,
more than 15 lakhs accounts were opened on the very first
day. In fact, India holds a place in Guinness book of world
record in opening 18,096,130 accounts in one week as a part
of financial inclusion campaign. Although later it was found
that over 92,52,609 were frozen on March 24, 2017 due to
lack of transactions since last one year. Around 77 per cent
people were baffled by the complicated procedure of debit
card and complex transaction procedure. [9]
In RajasthanRecently, various measures are taken in
Rajasthan to help women and make them financially
inclusive. Vasundhara Government catered rural women with
Bhamasha card. The Scheme was initiated in 2008. After
opening over 29 lakh bank accounts for
womenapproximately 160 crores were transferred. This was
a constructive step towards financial inclusion of women in
Rajasthan.
Due to the growing demand of entrepreneurs in India, the
government started Entrepreneurship and Management
Development Institutes inJaipur, This Instituteoffers a variety
of EDP courses directly or with the help of NGOs working in
this sector.
To encourage women participation in this scheme, there were
special measures taken by the government-
1) The three-pronged strategy envisaged was introduced to
focus on enhancing the entrepreneurial skills of women and
removing their credit related bottlenecks and to help them
increase their employment opportunities.
2) Schemes were also introduced for special rebate of 10%
on industrial lands and an equity type assistance under the
Mahila Udhyam Nidhi Scheme.
3) A shelf of projects was prepared and updated periodically
for women.
4) Flatted factories were also allotted to women
entrepreneurs on deferred payment basis on the condition
that they have to undergo some training courses.
5) 30% seats were reserved for women in the courses which
will help women Entrepreneurs to develop their potential.
Issues relating to financial literacy and financial inclusion of
women in rural area Education makes an individual skilled
and more productive (Ernst and young,2014). Lack of
literacy among women works as a hindrance in
understanding the fundamental banking services.
Lack of trust on government alsocreates an obstacle in the
success of government policies in rural area. They don’t have
the confidence on the financial system. Till date people
prefer to save at home rather than saving in bank which
result in enormous amount of idle money which results in
withdrawal of currency from the economy and break the flow
of money. Orthodox mentality of rural people makes it
challenging for the Government.
Problem of inequality is also a concern. Today when urban
women are achieving heights in every field, woman residing
in rural still fighting for their basic rights
International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering Vol.6(9), Nov 2018, E-ISSN: 2347-2693
© 2018, IJCSE All Rights Reserved 22
VII. CONLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
Rural women working on agriculture land contributing to the
country’s GDP is commendable.But still they are dependent
on others. Financial literacy will pave the path for women to
elevate their confidence and to achieve the place which they
deserve. For an economy to flourish and stablish
internationally women play a vital role. Blaming the
Government will not provide the solution of the problem.
Instead, cooperation with the government is required.
Financial literacy will not only help them to take decision
regarding better utilisation of funds but it will also build trust
on banking sector which is one of the utmost priorities.
Financial inclusion will be triumph if both government and
banks take equal initiative in educating women aboutopening
and increasing theirbusiness with the access of banking
services.
As Catering weaker section of the society with finance will
not resolve their issues, in the same manner just connecting
people with financial services is not sufficient. We first need
to educate them on how to use their financial resources in
productive way and make them aware about the measures
available for investmentand use their resources with full
efficacy, so that they could be able to get maximum return on
their investment.
Providing resources to unskilled person nevergive favourable
results[10]. More over being financial literate is not
sufficient, but they should be financially educated. Just
opening the bank accounts will not serve the purpose until
they don’t know the use of it.
Proper channelizing of income generated from rural women
and making them acquainted with banking services will give
some constructive results. The old school psychology of
people to save at home and not to deposit in bank is a big
hurdle for financial inclusion. To make financial inclusion in
Rajasthan a success, focus on women entrepreneur will be a
turning point. Making policies to educate them how to avail
the banking services will not only make them financially
literate but also construct a roadmap for future women
entrepreneur.
REFERENCES
[1] Yallapragada, Ram Mohan R; Bhuiyan, Mohammad (2011). Journal
of Applied Business Research; Laramie. 27 (6) :117-122.
[2] Sibi,M. S. & Ananth, A. A. (2017). Banking inclusion-A gateway to
financial inclusion. Sumedha Journal of Management, 6(1), 4-19.
[3] Visa, Financial Literacy Survey, Indians among least financially
literate people globally, Firstpost.com, December 2014.
[4] Williams, Colin C; Gurtoo, Anjula (2011). International Journal of
Gender and Entrepreneurship; Bingley. 3 (1) :6-22.
[5] Adegoke, Y. (2003). It takes an entrepreneur to catch an
entrepreneur. FT. Com, 1. Retrieved from
https://search.proquest.com/docview/228815595?accountid=174204
[6] Singh, C., & Kumar, R. (2017). Financial literacy among women:
India scenario. Universal Journal of Accounting and Finance 5(2):
46-53. DOI: 10.13189/ujaf.2017.050202.
[7] Lusardi,A(2008), 'financial literacy: An essential tool for informed
consumer choice?', NBER, Working Paper 14084.
[8] Rangarajan Committee report on Financial Inclusion 2018.
Retrieved on August 11, 2018 from
https://www.sidbi.in/files/Rangarajan-Commitee-report-on-
Financial-Inclusion.pdf.
[9] Chakrabarty, K. C. (2013). Financial Inclusion in India—Journey So
Far and Way Forward. Keynote Address at the Finance Inclusion
Conclave.
[10] Agarwal, T. (2016). An analysis of the twin pillars of the banking
in India: Organised by CNBC TV, 18.
Authors Profile
Mr. B. ARORA, Ph.D. (Pursuing), M.COM. (EAFM),NET,
P.G DIPLOMA IN FRENCH, A1,A2,B1 in FRENCH, B.COM,
Research Scholar- Manipal University Jaipur. He joined
Manipal University on August 07, 2017 as Full time research
Scholar having one year experience of Teaching assistantship
and one year experience of reseach. He contributed in one book
chapter in Taylor and Francis. One paper has been published in
UGC approved journal He is also a member of Indian
Accounting Association(IAA). He has attended four workshop
one of them organised by Assosiation of Indian Universities and
and attended four worshop and one colloquim
Dr. S. SHARMA, Ph.D, M.Phil, M.Com, MBA, SLET, NET
He joined Manipal University, Jaipur in year 2013 as Assistant
Prof in the School of Business and Commerce and handling
various courses related to field of Finance and
Banking for UG and PG programmes. Perior to this he has total
experience of around 12 years in the academic and industry. He
works with ICICI Bank Limited and Bank of Baroda cards
Limited. He has attended more then 35 conference and
workshop of national and International level.
Dr. Manvinder Singh Pahwa B.Com, M.Com., Ph.D., ACS,
PGDIB, PGDHR, LL.B., LL.M. M.B.A (Gold Medalist)
He an eminent academician with a rich experience of 18+ years
which is a rare blend of academia, industry, corporate
consultancy and research. Presently, he is working as r
Associate Professor-Senior Scale School of Business and
Commerce, Director, Alumni Relations at Manipal University
Jaipur. He has participated at numerous National & International
Conferences, Chaired the Sessions in India and abroad and his
37 research papers are published in referred national and
international journals. Besides, being an academician, he had
been Legal and Financial Consultant to a number of listed and
private Ltd. Companies. He has also worked as CFO of Cactus
Menswear Fashions Private Limited, Bangalore, a subsidiary of
FBC Inc, New York. Dr. Pahwa has conducted and delivered
more than 100 special courses for faculty development for
various Government and private schools and colleges. He is a
regular invitee for orientation and refresher course lectures in
area of research methodology, SPSS, Ethics in Research etc at
UGC-HRDC. He is also a regular speaker for Rajasthan Policy
Academy Jaipur and Administrative Officers Training School
Jaipur. He is also member of Doctoral Research Committee of
various Universities. Till date, 6 scholars have got their Ph.D.
awarded under his guidance.