Under this three-year pilot project, CRISIL Foundation set up 20 CFLs in six districts in Haryana and Maharashtra. These centres completed two years in October 2019. Since inception, the centres in 20 selected blocks of Haryana and Maharashtra have reached over 3.7 lakh participants through training and awareness camps.

The MoneyWise CFLs act as “hubs”, actively supporting local banks and stakeholders, and are an integral part of the financial inclusion ecosystem. The centres have received over 21,500 walk-ins seeking resolution of queries/ issues related to financial products and services, as well as to avail of financial products and services, both of which indicate these centres’ growing popularity.

As the programme design is based on the hub-and-spoke model, over 470 members from the local communities have been on-boarded and trained to provide handholding support in their respective villages.

The CFLs have received positive feedback from the regulator and other stakeholders. Over the course of two years, they have also become an integral component of the financial inclusion ecosystem in the districts. In August 2019, the RBI awarded CRISIL Foundation five additional tribal blocks in Rajasthan, thereby expanding the scope to 25 centres across three states.