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Below are Views On Each one of us would remember the sight of over 10 million migrant workers By Dilip Modi, Founder, Spice Money

“Each one of us would remember the sight of over 10 million migrant workers having to leave their livelihood in urban areas and return to their home towns and native villages, when the government declared a nation-wide lockdown on March 24, 2020. While urban India easily switched to teleworking, digital payments, food delivery, e-learning, India’s rural working class was struggling to make ends meet.

Rural Fintech and banking correspondents came to the rescue with financial empowerment of the underserved communities during this time. We at Spice Money feel fortunate for being able to support entrepreneurship as well as financial and digital empowerment for many struggling Indians, through self-employment opportunities on our platform. During the peak 6 month pandemic hit period Spice Money grew more than 100%, and also witnessed a 100% growth in the number of Spice Money Adhikaris coming on board the platform. Over the last one year, through training in digital skills, regular internet access, and leveraging technology to earn a livelihood, the rural youth has seen tremendous benefits financially and created jobs for the community without having to travel to the cities for work.

From a developmental perspective, this fast-tracked digitalization of financial services has been an unanticipated blessing for financial inclusion inspite of the disruptions brought about by the pandemic. Moreover, the government has recognised fintech as a critical enabler that can bridge the gap between the urban and rural India. As we prepare ourselves for the future, technology adoption and financial inclusion needs to be the common goal for India to harness rural India’s potential for economic development. As close a year of COVID, we are heading into a transformation, which is not only rewriting the rules of world economy but is also keeping technology at the heart of this change, specially for rural communities.”

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