This presentation by GP Garg was made at the High-level Global Symposium on Financial Education: Promoting Long-term Savings and Investments in Korea which explored policies and good practices for supporting long-term savings and investments through financial education and financial consumer protection. Find out more at http://www.oecd.org/daf/fin/financial-education/globalsymposiumonfinancialeducationforlong-termsavingsandinvestments.htm

1. NATIONAL CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION
IMPLEMENTING THE NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR FINANCIAL
EDUCATION
GIRRAJ PRASAD GARG
REGISTRAR,
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SECURITIES MARKETS
HEAD,
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION, INDIA
HIGH-LEVEL GLOBAL SYMPOSIUM ON FINANCIAL EDUCATION
26-27 FEBRUARY 2014
SEOUL, KOREA
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION (NCFE)
1

2. IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL EDUCATION
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION (NCFE)
Freedom from
exploitative
financial
schemes and
moneylenders
Confidence,
knowledge &
skills to
manage
financial
products &
services
Financial
Inclusion and
Behavioral
Change
Avoidance of
over
indebtedness
Promotes
entrepreneurshi
p, saving and
investment
Reduces strain
on social
programs and
pension plans
2

3. KEY COMPONENTS OF FINANCIAL EDUCATION
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION (NCFE)
Understanding Basic
Financial Concepts
Understanding
the key financial
products needed
through one’s life
Making good
financial
choices
Developing skills, confidence
and attitude towards financial
risks and opportunitiesBetter Consumer Protection
3

4. A GLOBAL EFFORT
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION (NCFE)
According to the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), National Strategy
for Financial Education promotes
A smoother and
more sustainable
co-operation
between regulators
and stakeholders
Avoids duplication of
resources
Allows development
of articulated and
tailored roadmaps
with measurable
and realistic
objectives based on
dedicated national
assessments
4

5. 5
CONCERNS
• Many financial institutions promoting financial education (FE)
are predominantly making a product pitch
Current Practices
• No standardization of content. FE is being imparted in a variety
of ways with no uniformity in the concepts being taught.
• Wholesome view needs to be taken with focus on the entire
financial sector rather than small pockets.
Missing the big picture
• An emerging economy needs infrastructure to keep pace with
growth. Indian households, with growing ambitions, also need a
large corpus to meet their life stage goals. Both these require
sustained long-term savings.
• Absence of a social security system and prevailing low
insurance penetration, there is a need to promote long-term
savings.
Need of long-term savings

6. NSFE, INDIA
VISION: “Financially aware and empowered Indians accessing
appropriate financial products and services through regulated entities with
necessary financial education and adequate grievance redressal
mechanism.”
MISSION: “To undertake massive Financial Education campaign to help
people manage money more effectively to achieve financial well being by
accessing appropriate financial products and services through regulated
entities with fair and transparent machinery for consumer protection and
grievance redressal.”
GOALS
Create awareness and educate consumers on access to financial
services, availability of various types of products and their features
Change attitudes to translate knowledge into behaviour
Make consumers understand their rights and responsibilities as clients
of financial services 6

7. IN INDIA
 To implement NSFE, a specialized institute, the National Centre for Financial
Education (NCFE) has been set up with the support of :
 Reserve Bank of India
 Securities and Exchange Board of India
 Insurance and Regulatory Development Authority
 Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority
 Forward Markets Commission
 Ministry of Finance, Government of India
 National Institute of Securities Markets (Implementing Body)
 The Education boards are also part of the implementation process
 Implementation under a technical group headed by Deputy Governor, Reserve
Bank of India with representation from all the Financial Sector regulators,
Government of India & Education boards. Presence of organizations of such
significance shows the importance attached to financial education on the National
Agenda 7

8. APPROACH
Basic Financial
Education
(By NCFE)
1. Standardization
of Content
2. Uniformity of the
message
irrespective of the
mode of delivery
Sector-Specific
Financial
Education
(By respective
Regulator)
1. Should be
product-neutral
2. Manufacturer-
neutral
Product-Specific
Financial
Education
Complete
information to the
customer by the
seller
For illiterates
(Very Important for
any FE Program)
1. Palatable content
2. Innovative modes
of delivery
8

9. Other
Ministries
FSDC
Sub-committee of FSDC
Technical Group for Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy
Representatives
from state
education
departments
RBI
Basic (FE) for Adults
Sector Specific
Product Specific
IRDA PFRDASEBIMoF for facilitation
/ MHRD for
implementation
Basic Financial Education
(FE)through schools
NCFE/NISM
Maintenance of financial
education website
Development of
content
Research Data collection and
monitoring of FE
PROPOSED STRUCTURE
9

10. SNAPSHOT OF CURRENT ACTIVITIES UNDER
NCFE NCFE – Financial
Literacy and
Inclusion Survey
(NCFE-FLIS)
NCFE – Financial
Education Website
(NCFE-FEW)
Financial Education
through school
curriculum
NCFE – National
Financial Literacy
Assessment Test
(NCFE-NFLAT)
Assessment of needs
through international
experience
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION (NCFE)
10

11. Concept
Inclusion in curriculum, is a long process, in
the short-term students can be acquainted
with the concepts of finance through this
initiative.
Target Group
School students of Classes VIII to X to
assess their basic financial knowledge on
topics like money, budgeting, banking,
investment , insurance, retirement planning
and so on.
Highlights
1. The test was conducted on 11th & 12th
January, 2014.
2. 2000 schools & 1,00,000 students
registered
3. The test would be made an annual
feature in the school calendars
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION (NCFE)
11

12. NATIONAL CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION (NCFE)
NCFE- FINANCIAL EDUCATION WEBSITE
• Website Address: www.ncfeindia.org
• Being developed to become a one-stop for all financial education material.
12

13. NCFE – FINANCIAL LITERACY AND INCLUSION SURVEY (NCFE-FLIS)
 Commenced a nationwide baseline survey for assessing the state of financial inclusion
and financial literacy.
 Aid to assess as well as yield benchmarks of core financial literacy and inclusion
indicators at the various sub group levels and to measure its rate of change on a continual
basis to assess the efficacy of various financial education interventions including those
under NCFE.
 Status: Survey report expected in August, 2014
 FINANCIAL EDUCATION THROUGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM
 NSFE Document recognizes that students should be educated about financial matters as
early as possible in their lives. It is proposed to introduce it in an integral manner in their
school curriculum from Class VI to X.
 Status: Discussions are underway
ASSESSMENT OF NEEDS THROUGH INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
• Models developed by similar economies are under-study to avoid reinventing the wheel.
ACTIVITIES UNDER NCFE
13

14. CHALLENGES
 Multiple stakeholders are involved- reaching a consensus on the activities
 Standardization of content across the board is critical.
 Inclusion of the financial literacy material in the school curriculum is a long process.
Negotiations with the education boards for the inclusion are on.
 Making citizens realize importance of financial education.
 India is a vast and diverse nation. Creating financial education (FE) campaigns
customized for such an audience is an uphill task. Also, given the geography of the
region, innovative modes of disseminating FE have to be devised
14

15. ROAD AHEAD
 A comprehensive approach is being followed for the dissemination of financial
education
 Joint efforts by the financial sector regulators and the Education Boards to make
financial education part of school curriculum (e.g. inclusion in School Curriculum will
have a snow-ball effect)
 Three- tiered approach under NSFE (Basic, Sector-Specific and Product-Specific
Financial Education) is being followed. Separate programs would be designed for
the illiterates.
 NCFE-NFLAT is proposed to be a compulsory annual test for the school students.
Similar test is proposed for higher classes and college students
 The Survey would be conducted every three years to understand the impact of the
efforts under NCFE and to take policy decisions
 Institutional Framework: The entire strategy is being implemented through existing
institutional mechanism so avoid duplication of efforts.
15

16. THANK YOU
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION (NCFE)
16
Facebook.com/ncfein
dia
Twitter.com/NCFE_In
dia
email id: registrar@nism.ac.in
Tel No.: +91-22-66735100-05