DBS Foundation, in partnership with Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (HESPL), has announced a new program designed to help advance financial inclusion, with a focus on rural India. The program is part of DBS Bank's larger commitment, announced in 2023, to allocate SGD 1 billion over the next decade to improve the lives and livelihoods of low-income and underprivileged individuals. The DBS Foundation will provide SGD 5.1 million to fund the program, which has targeted impacting 500,000 beneficiaries in totality across the country.
India’s rural population can often face challenges such as lack of information about and access to financial services and social welfare entitlements. The DBS-funded program addresses these critical gaps by providing resources to help this demographic understand financial concepts and products as well as the tools and assistance on how to access social welfare schemes, supported by Haqdarshak’s team of agents. The program implementation will focus on rural regions in the states of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha.
As part of the program, dedicated field teams, including Haqdarshak’s female agents, will be deployed to conduct both digital and financial literacy training sessions along with entitlement screening sessions. The program will prioritise enrolling eligible beneficiaries, particularly women, the elderly, and nano entrepreneurs like street vendors and tradesmen, into appropriate social welfare schemes. Additionally, to bolster their protection against financial fraud, participants will receive anti-scam awareness trainings. Enhancing the effectiveness of these services, the Haqdarshak Yojana Card, a QR coded card will facilitate easy access to the beneficiary’s social entitlement profiles online with periodic information updates on scheme eligibility. DBS employees will actively participate in the program delivery under its staff volunteer movement ‘People of Purpose’ to increase content awareness as well as conduct community sessions along with the Haqdarshak team.
Azmat Habibulla, Managing Director and Head - Group Strategic Marketing and Communications, DBS Bank India, said, "Since inception more than a decade ago, the DBS Foundation has been focused on uplifting lives and livelihoods and, it is especially meaningful to be able to launch a new intervention with Haqdarshak, who we have nurtured since 2018 as a Business For Impact. Having completed three decades in India, DBS Bank is more committed than ever to stay true to its purpose-driven vision and catalyse change. Together with Haqdarshak, we will take forward this shared mission to go beyond banking and empower communities through financial inclusion. By tackling real knowledge gaps with targeted solutions, we can enable pathways out of poverty and create lasting impact to help build a better world for generations to come.”
Over the years, Haqdarshak has been engaging with and been supported by the DBS Foundation (DBSF), including via the 2018 DBSF Business for Impact Grant and the 2020 DBSF Business Transformation Improvement Grant. In 2023 Haqdarshak became a DBSF program partner in India to foster digital and financial literacy among citizens from vulnerable communities across Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. Through this initiative over 10,000 digital and financial literacy sessions were successfully conducted for over 2 lakh beneficiaries, along with entitlement screening and facilitation support to over 4 lakh individuals so they could avail relevant welfare schemes. Notably, around 90% of the participants trained in digital and financial literacy were women.
Commenting on the announcement, Aniket Doegar, Co-Founder and CEO of Haqdarshak, said "As we navigate an increasingly fast-paced world, it is important to support those who may need more assistance and ensure that no one is left behind. Our new program is aimed at fostering long-term economic resilience and self-sufficiency among underprivileged communities by giving them the skills and confidence to access the benefits of the formal system. The DBS Foundation has been instrumental as a trusted partner in our journey and their consistent support over the years has enabled us to scale our reach and impact more lives positively. We look forward to partnering once again on a very purposeful initiative, bringing about real impact by sparking collective action."
This program is part of the DBS Foundation’s broader objective to support vulnerable communities and enable them to gain financial resilience across Asia, with a specific focus on the underprivileged and ageing members of society. By championing Businesses For Impact, DBS advocates for enterprises with a dual bottom line of profit and purpose, nurturing those that align with its mission and integrating them into DBS’s culture and operations.
