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Consumer Research Centre for Financial Inclusion

IIMPS has recently collaborated with the India Development Foundation (IDF) and IIMS Dataworks in establishing the Consumer Research Centre for Financial Inclusion. The Centre shall have a dedicated evidence and research-led focus on issues related to financial inclusion including market access, rights and service standards, as well as consumer knowledge, preferences and behaviour across banking, credit, savings, insurance and pensions.
   
The Centre shall aim to foster a broad-based consensus on issues related to financial inclusion and assist in producing appropriate public policies, regulatory response and business strategies for improving access to financial services by India's low income workforce. Customised quantitative and qualitative household and service delivery surveys – both periodic and ad hoc – shall be a key research input for the Centre. The Centre shall be located at IDF and will use the existing IIMS Dataworks proprietary household incomes and savings datasets for the first round of research tasks. Subsequent research will use new rounds of primary surveys to be produced in the coming months. The Centre's research agenda shall be directed by a qualified editorial board including representatives of partner organisations, other stakeholders and independent domain experts from Indian and overseas markets.

The Centre's activities shall include:   

  • producing a range of public goods in the form of research papers, business and policy reports, periodicals and books,
  • stakeholder consultations including evidence-led annual and topical policy and business conferences and roundtables,
  • development of new consumer-centric financial literacy courses and tools targeting low income workers and certification courses targeting employees of MFIs, banks, insurers and other service providers,
  • dissemination of research output to students undergoing development sector courses through the teaching curriculum of various institutes, and
  • public dissemination of datasets, research and publications through the media and a dedicated website.