The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley highlights the the various steps like leveraging digital IDs (Aadhar), expanding access networks (PM Jan-DhanYojana) and digitizing financial benefit transfers (including Insurance and Pension schemes), taken by the Government of India which have led to the tremendous progress towards achievement of the universal financial inclusion goal during the last couple of years. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley was delivering the Keynote Address at the Annual Meeting Flagship event organized by the World Bank on the issue of ‘Financial Inclusion and De-risking’.

Earlier, the Finance Minister Shri Jaitley along with Shri Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA),Ministry of Finance participated in the 2016 IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings Plenary, which was held yesterday at the historic DAR Constitution Hall, Washington D.C.

On the sidelines of Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), the Finance Minister Shri Jaitley also held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Sri Lanka, China, and Iran. The discussions mainly focused on the areas of mutual co-operation and commonality of positions in various multilateral fora.

Shri Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) participated in the World Bank Development Committee meeting, during the afternoon, wherein he spoke about the wide-ranging economic reforms undertaken in India which are transforming the business environment for Indian and global investments. During the discussion, Shri Das highlighted upon the impressive increases in FDI, $100 billion solar energy investment programme, Clean India (Swachh Bharat) Program, International Solar Alliance, Make-In-India, transformation of the taxes regime, passage of GST bills, bankruptcy code, as some of the major initiatives recently undertaken.

Shri Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Economic Affairs also met the president of the New Development Bank and the CEOs of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and Scotia Bank.

The Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley is currently on official tour to Washington D.C. USA to attend the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) and other associated meetings. He is accompanied by Dr. Urijit Patel, Governor RBI, Mr. Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) and other officials.

Universal financial inclusion via digital ID and direct benefit transfers, coupled with international cooperation on financial policy. The statement describes policy measures to advance universal financial inclusion by leveraging Aadhaar digital ID, expanding access through the PM Jan-Dhan Yojana network, and digitizing financial benefit transfers including insurance and pension schemes, alongside diplomatic engagements and presentations of domestic economic reforms to international financial institutions.