Making sustainable products for providing banking and insurance to the urban BoP

Abstract

In literature, poverty is defined as a state where a person fails to maintain a bare minimum living standard for living, and survival in some cases. India is estimated to have approximately one third of the poor in the world. According to a survey conducted by World Bank in 2005, more than 42% of Indian population falls below the international standard of poverty, which is earning $1.25 per day. With “India Shining”, India has managed to develop to a level where poverty levels are reduced by 30% from a level of 60% in 1980, but surely there is a long road ahead before the policy makers and industrialists to work towards poverty reduction. Approximately 25% Indians are living below the poverty line and around the same number live on the line. With only 50% Indians able to fulfill the basic needs, there is surely a large imbalance in the society and this scenario doesn’t help the long term sustainable growth of the country. The poverty can be identified in two ways – rural and urban. Both rural and urban poverty have different reasons for their existence and different steps have been taken by the decision makers to alleviate these. The following section discusses these two types of poverty in India.