Scaling-up access to finance for India’s rural poor presents a formidable developmental challenge in a country as vast and varied as India. It was in this context that Skoch Development Foundation undertook the first-ever nationwide multi-stakeholder study entitled "National Study on Speeding Financial Inclusion". This study sought to collate primary research based on our grassroots experiences from several project sites and field visits; and, views from all stakeholders so as to arrive at key interventions and intermediations to speed up the process of financial inclusion, and thereby poverty alleviation. Apart from providing key recommendations in the form of a roadmap to speed up the process of financial inclusion, the study also sought to determine the viability and cost-effectiveness of the Business Correspondent (BC) model and has identified several options to make the model viable.

Sameer Kochhar is President of Skoch Development Foundation—a not-for-profit Section 25 company—and has been passionately working towards promoting participatory democracy, empowerment and bringing improvements in delivery systems. He is CEO, Skoch Consultancy Services and is an industry veteran with a multifaceted career spanning over two and a half decades. He has been India strategy and management consultant to several Fortune 500 as well as large Indian companies for over a decade. He is also Chief Editor of Inclusion—a quarterly publication focused on development economics issues. He is considered to be one of the most respected independent voices on inclusive development and citizenship issues in India. He is a member of several expert groups and committees and his research opinions and writings have shaped many a public policy dialogue. He is also a Member of the Expert Group constituted by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India advocating a case for strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions (village councils), and urban local bodies. He has written extensively on areas of emerging management practices, mergers and acquisitions, Indian IT industry, e-Governance, Panchayati Raj, and, ICT for development. He has recently published with Academic Foundation, New Delhi, three widely acclaimed books titled: Infrastructure and Governance (2008); Financial Inclusion (2009); and, Urban Renewal: Policy and Response (2009).