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regular-article-logo Tuesday, 07 May 2024

G20 financial inclusion meet starts in Calcutta

Three-day event will kick off at Biswa Banga Convention Centre on Monday

Our Special Correspondent Calcutta Published 09.01.23, 02:42 AM
A worker at the G20 venue on the eve of the event in Calcutta on Sunday.

A worker at the G20 venue on the eve of the event in Calcutta on Sunday. PTI picture

The city will play host to a G20 meeting focusing on global partnerships for financial inclusion with delegates coming from all across the globe.

The three-day event will kick off at Biswa Banga Convention Centre on Monday, followed by two days of plenary sessions at JW Marriott hotel on EM Bypass.

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The GPFI (Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion) meet will brainstorm on key issues of financial inclusion such as access to the unbanked, increasing the usage of financial products and reducing the cost of remittance.

The meeting will start with a symposium “Unlocking the potentials of digital public infrastructure for advancing financial inclusion and productivity gains”.

The GPFI meet is part of the ‘‘Finance Track’’ which sits at the core of the G20 process and provides a forum for global economic discourse and policy co-ordination. It discusses global macroeconomic issues through its meetings of finance ministers and central bank governors, their deputies and various working group meetings.

There are likely to be four such meetings of the GPFI working group with the first in Calcutta. At least 40 locations have been chosen by the Union government to hold meetings under the Indian G20 presidency this year.

“The main purpose of the meeting is to ensure access and usage to the unbanked and left out and therefore provide opportunities for higher income and growth which will help in the next stage of economic development. The implementation of digital financial principles, remittance cost, SME finance availability are going to be the main meeting agenda,” Chanchal Sarkar, economic advisor in the department of economic affairs under the Union finance ministry, said.

He indicated that Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee may join the inaugural session on Monday even though there was no official confirmation from Nabanna till going to the press.

Sarkar said the exhibition would showcase India’s progress in digital finance. Bandhan Bank, NPCI and Aadhar would explain how innovative digital technologies have changed the landscape for digital financial inclusion.

He said remittance cost is a key area of interest among the G20 leaders. They are working to reduce the cost, with a target to bring it down to 3 per cent of remittance by 2027 from 6 per cent at present.

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