Shaktikanta Das, Bill Gates discuss financial inclusion, microfinance

Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates on Tuesday visited the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) office in Mumbai and held talks with Governor Shaktikanta Das, the central bank said on Twitter.

“Mr Bill Gates visited RBI Mumbai today and held wide ranging discussions with Governor Shaktikanta Das,” the RBI said on its official Twitter handle while sharing photographs of the meeting.

“Had an excellent meeting with @BillGates on financial inclusion, payment systems, microfinance and digital lending, etc,” Das said in a tweet.

Gates, a well-known philanthropist, said in his blog GatesNote last week that he would be visiting India to witness first-hand the work done by innovators and entrepreneurs in the field of climate change.

“Some are working on breakthroughs that will help us mitigate the effects of climate change, like the work being done by Breakthrough Energy Fellow Vidyut Mohan and his team to turn waste into biofuels and fertilizers in remote agricultural communities,” he had said.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the progress that’s already underway by both the Gates Foundation’s and Breakthrough Energy’s amazing partners,” he wrote.

Gates said in his blog that while India was on the frontlines of climate change, the country had displayed to the world how to make progress despite limited resources.

“By collaborating and trying novel approaches, the public, private, and philanthropic sectors can turn limited resources into big pools of funding and knowledge that lead to progress,” he wrote.

The RBI has also been making efforts to push for environmentally-friendly approaches to finance, with the central bank in its latest policy review in February issuing guidelines on climate risk and sustainable finance.

At the policy review earlier this month, the RBI issued guidelines on a broad framework for acceptance of green deposits, a disclosure framework on climate-related financial risks and guidance on climate scenario analysis and stress testing.

“Being a full-service central bank with financial stability as part of its mandate, the Reserve Bank recognises that climate change can translate into climate-related financial risks for Regulated Entities (REs) which can have broader financial stability implications,” the RBI had said on February 8.

As part of the broad push towards environmentally sustainable finance, the central government issued sovereign green bonds for the first time ever in January and February 2023. The sovereign green bonds will be used for mobilising resources for green infrastructure and the proceeds deployed in public sector projects.