Financial Literacy Centres of Kerala Bank is functioning at present in three regions; Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam & Kozhikode where Resource Persons take role of the objectives. The role of Financial Literacy Centres (FLC) is to conduct Financial and Digital Awareness Camps and Programs for Financial Inclusion and to create awareness in public is allrelated to Banking/Financial sector. The Resource Persons appointed in each region organize and conduct these camps and programs. Financial and Digital literacy camps are conducted with the support of concerned area branches. NABARD provides Financial Inclusion Fund yearly for conducting Financial and Digital camps and Village Level Programs for Self Help Groups for Bank Linkage thereby including the financially uneducated.
The Success of any organization depends on the services given to the public. This logic is very important when coming to banking sector. Many a time the public including farmers, students, women, senior citizens etc. are unaware of the financial benefits and services provided to them by the banking sector. Financial Literacy Centres fill this gap and conduct financial awareness programs, classes and camps to all target groups in public, thereby develop financial inclusion and give right information regarding the developments in banking area, loan schemes, benefits and services provided to them by banks and government organizations. RBI and NABARD give special instructions to Financial Literacy Centres to financially include and make public aware of the developments in banking services especially in rural areas. Kerala Bank which has a network of branches in all rural and urban areas in Kerala State, ensures the purpose of Financial literacy & Inclusion envisaged by NABARD
The main topics mainly covered in the Financial Inclusion/Awareness classes/programs are:
- The importance of Savings Habits.
- Basic Knowledge on different Savings accounts/deposits
- Loan Schemes and subsidy benefits to Farmers/SHG members
- Agricultural/Educational and other loan Schemes
- MSME related loans/schemes
- Financial Schemes for Women Empowerment
- Importance of Prompt Repayment of Loans/Responsible Borrowing
- Social Security Schemes/Crop Insurance/Kisan Credit Card
- ATM Usage/RuPay Card Benefits/Micro ATM etc.
- Digital & Modern Banking/Security measures while using Digital Banking
- Fraud Protection while using Banking Services
The Mobile ATM Van facility of Kerala Bank is used to provide demonstration during the financial literacy camps, which provides awareness on ATM benefits / usage to a large group. The target groups to whom the financial literacy/financial inclusion/Digital literacy camps are conducted include
- Farmers (Crop/Dairy/Poultry/Animal Husbandry/Fisheries/Bee farming)
- Students
- Women/Kudumabsree/Other women organizations/SHGs/JLGs
- Senior Citizens
- Beneficiaries of different Govt. /Semi Govt. Self-Employment Schemes
- Residence Association/Club/Society members
- MSME Entrepreneur Group members
In Financial Literacy Centres, RPs give awareness on all the loan schemes which can be beneficial to the public irrespective of any organizations or financial institutions.
Kerala Bank which has an active network of branches in all rural and urban areas across the Kerala State solves the purpose of Financial literacy & Inclusion envisaged by NABARD. The importance of knowledge on banking/financial services is very much needed in this modern world. Hence, Financial Literacy Centres are working at their level best to provide the public correct information and literacy regarding banking/digital banking services on a daily basis to create tremendous changes in this sector.