Knowledge confers power. Recognising this, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently on 16^th July 2012, released the draft National Strategy for Financial Education. With almost half of India’s population being financially excluded, the need is imperative for such a National Strategy to lay the foundation for achieving total financial inclusion and thereby, inclusive growth.

Financial education plays a critical role in enabling the demand side (customers) to provide an informed response to the supply side (financial products and service providers’) offerings. The National Strategy aims to identify ways of spreading financial literacy and creating awareness amongst all citizens about financial services, types of products available and their features and their rights and obligations. The ultimate objective is to translate this knowledge into responsible financial behaviour by empowering customers to protect and grow their financial wealth.

The National Strategy aims to enable diverse stakeholders responsible for spreading financial literacy and inclusion to work in unison to create a “vibrant and stable financial system” in the country. RBI has posted the draft National Strategy for Financial Education on its website and has invited email responses, comments and feedback from all stakeholders by 15^th August 2012.