Over the years, India's growth has been nothing short of impressive. However, while the middle class is rapidly increasing in size and enjoying much more purchasing power, courtesy of various schemes offered by banks and financial institutions, other sections of society are a cause for concern. Low-income households in the informal or subsistence economy often have to borrow from friends, family or usurious moneylenders and have little awareness or access to insurance products that could protect their financial resources in circumstances such as illness, property damage or the death of the primary breadwinner.

While most of everyone operate under the ethos of ‘make hay while the sun shines', a large number of people are enjoying the benefits of policy changes and new regulations while remaining unaware of the potential adverse affects. A case in point could be the Andhra Pradesh micro finance institution crises. Such situations lead to a moral debate - though we are on the road towards progress, are we willing to sacrifice these sections of society and their problems for the sake of progress? Or do we want to include all and rise up as a great nation?

Bearing this in mind, the third ET Financial Inclusion Summit, taking place on Dec. 7 at The Oberoi in New Delhi, will take stock of the current scenario, the pros and cons of what has been achieved so far, and what is intended to be achieved in the future. It will also focus on how customer-centric financial inclusion has been till date and whether its offerings need to be redesigned to attract the poor and enable them financially. This summit looks towards sustainable solutions for the poor in the realm of financial services.

With a focus to finding sustainable solutions for the poor in the realm of financial services, the topics that will be covered in this session of the ET Financial Inclusion are ‘Regulations that protect the poor - Perspectives on the recent RBI regulations and draft MFI Bill'; ‘Designing insurance to meet the needs of the poor'; SHGs, No frill accounts and beyond: The government's role in financial inclusion'; and ‘Alternative MFI financing: Diversifying beyond bank funding'.

The key note address will be delivered by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Government of India. Some of the other prominent speakers are A P Singh, Deputy Director General, Unique Identification Authority of India; Anurag Jain, Joint Secretary (IF), Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, GOI; Gregory C. Chen, Regional Representative for South Asia, CGAP; Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, Skoch Group; V Saikumar, OSD - Life, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority; Shahid Vaziralli, Programme Head, Centre for Micro Finance; Sanjay Datta, Head - Underwriting and Claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd.; and N C Kulbhe, General Manager, Bank of India.