FinLit Cell

Financial Literacy (FinLit) Cell

                    Creating Awareness and Empowering people to make sound financial decisions

  Background and the contextual issues for creating the need of the FinLit Cell

About Cell:

An Initiative to spread the basics of financial education among financial illiterates. It was founded by a group of motivated teachers of our institute and students who wanted to make an impact through community outreach programmes. It aims at making communities equipped enough to manage financial resources and services effectively through community engagement, workshops, seminars and discussions. 

It also aims at imparting financial knowledge amongst college students with special focus on undergraduates through various surveys, competitions and workshops. 
We cover topics like crypto currency, NFTs, mutual funds, shares, bonds, digital gold and many more. We connect with various colleges, collaborate with financial institutes, conduct financial workshops and disseminate financial information.

Objectives of the FinLit Cell

1) To promote financial literacy across Maharashtra among different sections of society

2) To create financial awareness and empowerment through financial literacy programmes

3) To work in collaboration with the national and international institutes promoting the financial literacy

4) To prepare appropriate financial literature for the target groups

5) To promote research in various aspects of financial literacy

Activities of the FinLit Cell and beneficiaries

Financial Literacy (FinLit) Cell

                    Creating Awareness and Empowering people to make sound financial decisions

  Background and the contextual issues for creating the need of the FinLit Cell

Dr.Brijmohan Dayma and Dr.Sarika Dayma are the faculty members from the college. While interacting with the college students, they were many incidences which indicated the poor financial literacy level among students and their parents. Majority students were the first generation learners from rural areas and Marathi medium. That created restlessness in them. Coincidently, both of them were certified as the SEBI-NISM resource person for promoting financial literacy in Maharashtra in August 2011. It gave birth to the concept of having a dedicated cell in the college for promoting financial literacy.  So the cell was established in September 2011. At the time of inception of the cell the first 3 objectives were decided.  The NAAC Peer Team visiting the college in March 2014 (2^nd cycle) suggested to add the research dimension to the Cell. In 2014-15, the 5^th objective was added considering the demand from the students’ community. 

Objectives of the FinLit Cell

• • • To promote financial literacy across Maharashtra among different sections of society
    • To create financial awareness and empowerment through financial literacy programmes
    • To work in collaboration with the national and international institutes promoting the financial literacy
    • To prepare appropriate financial literature for the target groups
    • To promote research in various aspects of financial literacy

Member of the Financial Literacy Cell

• • Dr.Sarika Dayma, Project Coordinator
  • Dr.Brijmohan Dayma, Member
  • Shri.Shrikant Pandya, Member

The Practice and the growth of the Cell

Since inception, the resource persons provide free guidance relating to the need of financial literacy, saving and investment, different investment options and related aspects. Their area of operation is limited to Maharashtra State. The beneficiaries are school children, College students, middle income group, homemakers, young investors, retired persons and executives. The students as well as the teaching and office staff are provided with Financial Awareness tips. They are supported with the study material provided by SEBI, essential to know the Financial Planning and investment.

In 2013-14, the NCFE launched the NFLAT for school children (6^th to 8^th class). The Cell promoted the test among Latur district schools by training the student volunteers and teacher volunteers. The test was extended to class 9^th and 10^th and further to class 11^th and 12^th. Considering the demand of the students, the cell developed the study material in simple Marathi as well as English medium. It is available at cost basis for students.

In 2017, we organised the Financial Education Week (FEW) and also launched the FinLit Test for senior college students in 2 colleges. It was extended to 11 cluster colleges in 2018.

With the help of the IQAC, we organised one day School Head Master/Principal training and 2 days Financial Education Training Programme (FETP).  We conducted awareness sessions in World Investor Week (WIW) in 3 colleges. The cell has arranged various programmes in collaboration with the national institutes as Securities and Exchange board of India (SEBI), National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE), Association of International Wealth Management of India (AIWMI).

Due to our efforts, from the academic year 2018-19, our parent university started a Financial Literacy Course (Elective) for B.Com. TY students. The college faculty member Mr.Shrikant Pandya is the Project Coordinator for Course in the college. He has been awarded M.Phil. entitled “A study of Financial Literacy and its reflection on investment decisions among Private sector employees with special reference to Latur” on April 2019. At present, he is researching on a Minor Research Project on Financial Literacy sponsored by our parent institution Dayanand Education Society. The FinLit Cell Coordinator Dr.Sarika Dayma is also researching on a MRP entitled “The role of NCFE in promoting financial literacy among school teachers and students of Latur district”.

Capable and Trained Resource Persons

Financial Literacy Cell, established in 2011, is one of the excellent units arranging extension activities. The College motivated its staff members to apply for the recognition of Resource persons (RPs) by SEBI-NISM.  Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is Government of India’s regulatory body for capital market. National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) is the educational institute of SEBI.

Dr.Brijmohan Dayma and Dr.Sarika Dayma were selected in the national panel of SEBI Resource Persons. They were given duty leave for a week to attend the Orientation Programme organized by SEBI-NISM, Navi Mumbai during 21-27 August 2011. They qualified in the post training exam and were recognized as the SEBI Certified Resource Persons.

On the basis of their annual satisfactory performance, in August 2012, they got extension thrice upto December 2014, upto March 2018 and upto March 2020.

Dr.Sarika Dayma was selected for Refresher training at National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), Bangalore during 21-22 Sept.2013.

Dr.Brijmohan Dayma and Dr.Sarika Dayma were selected for Refresher training at National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), Hyderabad during 14-15 February 2015. The college provided duty leave for it.

Recently, Dr.Brijmohan Dayma and Dr.Sarika Dayma were selected for Refresher training at National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), Nagpur during 3rd -4th November 2018. The college provided duty leave for it.

Financial Education Training and other events attended by

Dr.Brijmohan Dayma & Dr.Sarika Dayma

Dr.Brijmohan Dayma and Dr.Sarika Dayma participated in the first Policy Forum on ‘Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion’ of NCFE, Mumbai on 15-16th December 2016. SEBI whole time director Shri.Prashant Saran inaugurated the policy forum. The representatives of financial regulators RBI, SEBI, IRDAI, PFRDA as well as selected academicians were present at the event.

Dr.Brijmohan Dayma and Dr.Sarika Dayma participated in the seven days FDP on ‘Managing money for Happy Family: Bharatiya Insights’ during 15th to 21st April 2017 at Banasthali Vidyapith. The FDP was sponsored by Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI.

Evidence of success such as performance

Weblink:   Full Report of the Financial Literacy Cell

Activities of the FinLit Cell and beneficiaries

Outcome-

• • • Since August 2011, total 268 SEBI financial literacy workshops are conducted throughout Maharashtra.
    • More than twenty five thousand participants benefited from the workshop during last seven years.
    • On satisfactory performance of the RPs, their tenure is extended upto 31^st March 2020.
    • Due to the excellent track record of past years, our two RPs were selected for promoting the NCFE-NFLAT.
    • FEW 2017 (255 students from 2 colleges) and FEW 2018 (725 students from 11 colleges) got good response from college students and teachers. These programmes played an important role to promote financial literacy among higher educated youths.

Challenges faced-

• • • Initially the SEBI study material was in Hindi and English only. However, most of the participants were from Marathi speaking community. We requested SEBI to provide material in Marathi and since 2013 it is available.
    • The students were reluctant to use English study material and demanded the study material in simple Marathi language. So we have to develop it and provide it on cost basis.
    • The resource persons have to arrange workshops after normal working hours or during holidays.
    • It is challenging to convince rural people, senior citizens and deprived sections for the workshop.
    • The college has financial constraints for research work. So we requested the parent society (DES) and it has sanctioned 2 MRPs to teacher members of the cell.
    • Due to lack of sufficient infrastructure, a school was unable to conduct online NFLAT. The college arranged the test for approximately thousand girl students in the college computer lab.