UNESCO has adopted the theme of ‘Literacy in a digital world’ this year on the occasion of International Literacy Day on 8th September.
As per Census 2011, the literacy rate in India is merely 76%, far lower than the global literacy rate of 86.3%. Digital illiteracy is even higher, posing a threat to India’s growth story. These numbers highlight the significance of providing education for a sustainable growth.
India is currently in the midst of a large effort to modernise its financial services and move individuals into the electronic financial space. The government has demonstrated its keenness through with demonetisation and the launch of Bharat QR, BHIM, an app developed to further its cashless push.
However there are several challenges peculiar to India that may constrain a full-scale digital transition in the foreseeable future. The race to go digital cannot be turned into a marathon sprint. India culturally believes in cash and a paradigm shift in thinking will need time and resources.
To bridge this gap, Mahindra Rural Housing Finance Ltd. in association with Mahindra Finance undertook a nationwide exercise to raise awareness on various digital payment methods available to the rural population. It launched a financial literacy campaign to Go Cashless from Dec '16 to April '17. More than 5000 employees volunteered in this initiative across six states.
750,000 lives were touched through this initiative. Mahindra FSS’ CSR outreach, the Digital financial literacy campaign will spread awareness about topics such as:- usage of bank account, electronic transfer of money, usage of Mobile wallets, importance of having a stable mobile number, etc.
The task of ensuring rural understanding of digital payments was conducted through nukkad nataks (i.e. story telling sessions at rural marketplaces), meetings at branch offices, gram sabhas and gram panchayats and distribution of informative flyers and posters.
In order to ensure that the campaign reached out to maximum rural households, the campaign was conducted in local languages. It touched upon topics like, cashless methods to make payments, utility of opening a bank account, importance of linking bank account with Aadhaar number and mobile number, government subsidies through banking channels and legal remedies in case of a cheque bounce.
Realising the importance of a sustained financial advocacy programme, Mahindra FSS has also set up a toll free call center to address queries related to cashless methods of transactions.
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