XLRI-NABARD Award “Innovation4Impact”

XLRI-NABARD Award "Innovation4Impact", felicitating innovators in the domain of inclusive finance at the 3rd International Workshop on Inclusive Finance to be held from October 31 - November 2, 2014.

XLRI - Xavier School of Management, premier Business School in India and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) announce to host a national level felicitation- Innovation4Impact(i4i), inviting innovators who have made a difference to the life at the bottom of the pyramid by enhancing access to finance.

The felicitation aims at providing an opportunity to innovators and social entrepreneurs to demonstrate their success stories to experts at the workshop, delegates from industry, researchers, faculty and students of Business Schools.

The event is conducted along with the "3rd XLRI International Workshop on Inclusive Finance" during October 31-November 2, 2014 to be held at XLRI campus at Jamshedpur.

The competition invites successful models involving livelihood initiatives with finance; innovations in Bank-BC financial inclusion initiatives, Banking products for Poor; products innovations in microfinance, savings & insurance; sustainable innovations for the Ultra Poor; innovations in financial literacy and consumer protection, including literacy initiatives through Financial Literacy Centres (FLC), micro insurance & community-based initiatives, and inclusive technological innovations, including mobile banking.

The 3-day mega event International Workshop on Inclusive Finance brings academicians, practitioners, banks and microfinance institutions, NGOs, and policy makers to deliberate on research as well as contemporary issues in the area of financial inclusion.

The theme of this year's workshop is specifically addressed to the following areas: (i) Bank-BC Model of Financial Inclusion, (ii) Product Innovations, (III) Online Lending & Microfinance, (iv) Microfinance to Livelihood Finance, (v) Producers' Cooperatives & Companies, (vi) Product Bundling in Microfinance, (vii) Pricing & Costing Microloans, (viii) Microenterprise Financing, (ix) Micro Savings & Micropension (x) Migration & Remittances, (xi) Small Holder Agricultural Finance, including weather risk, (xii) Social Capital and Impact Investing, (xiii) Micro Insurance, (xiv) Mobile & Branchless Banking, (xv) Financial Capability, (xvi) Consumer Protection, (xvii) Regulatory & Governance Issues, among others.

Announcing the initiative, Dr. HK Pradhan, Professor of Finance and Economics & Convener of the Workshop said that "The event is expected to serve as a forum for intensive discussions among all stakeholders involved in financial inclusion.

The i4i competition in particular provides opportunity for a "face to face" interaction where innovators showcase and talk about their passions and issues that they consider important and explain their projects' potential for upscale. Our joint endeavor with NABARD is expected to provide a platform to promote collaborations, integration, and convergence so that the nation's financial inclusion agenda can be fast tracked".

Commenting on the initiative, Mr. Subrata Gupta, Chief General Manager, NABARD, said that "The idea is to popularize successful cases in the arena of financial inclusion that are recognized as replicable models. We wish to disseminate innovative experiments to the wider audience comprising different stakeholders so that the models can be adopted in other locations".

Further information can be obtained by email at [email protected]

About XLRI
XLRI is a premier, private management institute in India founded in 1949 by Fr Quinn Enright, S.J. in the ‘steel city' of Jamshedpur. For further information visit, www.xlri.ac.in

For further information, please contact:
Debaparna/ Ratandip
Ketchum Sampark
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