Abhyutthana School of Financial Inclusion, Research and Education (ASFIRE): Bhubaneswar   

Empowering society through Financial Literacy.       

Abhyutthana  School of  Financial Inclusion, Research and Education  (ASFIRE): Bhubaneswar

 

ASFIRE was launched on 24 July 2017 in a special function held in Jayadev Bhavan, Bhubaneswar.  The institute  was inaugurated by Dr Aurobindo Behera, IAS  (Retd)  and Shri A.P. Hota, Firmer Managing Director and CEO, National Payment Corporation of India .

Joint Promoters:

Abhyutthana Financial Learning centre LLP,  and  Abhyutthana Foundation Charitable Trust.

( Abhyutthana group).

Registered Office:

Abhyutthana House

HIG 210, Kanan Vihar Phase I

Bhubaneswar 751 031

Founder :

Dasarathi  Mishra, Managing Partner, AFLC

Vision:

 Empowering society through knowledge and skill in financial literacy and thereby furthering financial inclusion and  incidence of  poverty.

Mission:

ASPIRE shall empower society with particular emphasis on youth through creating financial awareness, imparting financial education .

ASPIRE shall disseminate financial digital literacy to young adults, senior citizens, women by conducting special workshops, camps and town hall meetings.

Objectives and strategy

ASFIRE commits:

  • To create awareness and educate individuals, on access to financial services, availability of various types of financial products .
  • To inculcate saving habit among public. The public must be guided that their hard earned income is invested safely, securely with regulated entities.
  • To empower youth, women, senior citizens through creating financial / depositors awareness, financial/depositors education helping  them enhance their financial capability  and maintain a financial stability.
  • To work for upliftment of rural/urban poor through sensitizing the poor and neglected sections of society through awareness program on Financial Inclusion at Gram  Panchayat Level.
  • To create awareness of the citizens on Insurance, Pension products and capital market instruments, risks associated thereto and to guide them to enhance their earning capacity.
  • To conduct financial literacy workshops for  members of  SHGs and at RSETIs.
  • To empower transgender to be financially included, by disseminating knowledge and skill on financial literacy.
  • To impart the citizens the knowledge and skill on Digital Financial Literacy, so that they can undertake digital banking
  • To create awareness among  the people about the Grievance Redressal system in banking, insurance and capital market arena.
  • To make consumers understand their rights and responsibilities as beneficiaries of financial services.
  • To establish research , training, skill development centres for furtherance of financial education/ learning  in a systematic manner.

Track Record of Promoters

 During  the last three years AFLC has conducted 27 workshops on financial awareness and financial literacy in schools, colleges, university, business schools  and covered  , in aggregate,  6,729  students, teaching staff and villagers.

 Activities 2016-17

  • AFLC organised a “Seminar on Financial Literacy and  Financial Inclusion”, on 19 March 2016  in Bhubaneswar with participation of around 125 officials from banks (including senior bankers), senior government officials, SME sector, MFIs, regulators ( RBI, SEBI), other financial institution (SIDBI), academicians,  and students of business schools. The Seminar was addressed by leading financial experts such as  Dr Anup Pujari, IAS,  Dr Deepak Mohanty, Executive Director, RBI and  Shri  G Padmanabhan, Chairman, Bank of India.
  • The 2nd Annual  Seminar on Financial Literacy and Financial  Inclusion   ( 2017) with focus on Digital Financial Literacy,  was conducted in  Bhubaneswar on 21 January 2017. The program was inaugurated by Shri H.R. Khan, Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India and was addressed by financial  experts like Dr A.S Ramasastri, Director, Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) and experts from RBI and banking/ insurance

Advisory Committee:

ASFIRE has an  Advisory Committee with experts, experienced officials from financial sector and senior Government officers, academician.

  1. R Das, Former Regional Director, RBI, Hyderabad
  2. P. Hota, Former Managing Director and CEO, National payment Corporation of India Ltd
  3. Moharana, Former CGM, NABARD
  4. N K Sahu, Former Regional Director, RBI, Jammu
  5. Bhuban Mohan Patnaik, State Co-ordinator, Odisha Livelihood Mission.
  6. Prof H.K Pradhan, Professor of Finance and Economics, XLRI, Jamshedpur

Resource Persons:

Director:   Ramanath Dash, Former Regional Director, RBI, Hyderabad

  1. Siladitya Chaudhuri, Former General Manager, RBI
  2. Ch N.C Das, Former General Manager, Indian Overseas Bank
  3. Dharani Dhar Mishra, Former General manager, NABARD
  4. C. Mishra, Former General Manager, Syndicate Bank
  5. K. Chakraborty, Former General Manager, Allahabad  Bank

The Resource persons attached to the institute are experts in banking and finance and are endowed with vast experience. Besides the above Resource persons, a large number of experienced bank officials  are  available at the district levels  to  be associated with.

Need for an Institute

  • ASFIRE will fill the institutional gap in the area of financial literacy, in the state and guide the citizens to manage  their money efficiently.
  • ASFIRE would guide the citizens though targeted programs to bring  more and more persons  within the fold of regulated financial system, so that they can reap the benefits of the present financial system.
  • The DBT scheme of the Government requires that the consumers should undertake financial transactions through a bank account. The consumers are required to get acquainted with digital banking transactions. ASFIRE will impart the necessary skill through workshop/ training.
  • ASFIRE will seek the logistic support of the state government to translate the lauded objective of achieving financial inclusion  into reality.