A one day awareness programme on financial literacy was organised by the District Administration, Ukhrul in collaboration with One Stop Centre, Ukhrul at Rayotang, Ukhrul as a part of the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan. The programme was attended by women folk from Royotang with Thotdharsho Kasar, Capacity Building Officer, Money Wise, Crisil Foundation and Themreingam Pheiray, Centre Manager, Money Wise, Crisil Foundation as the resource persons.
Thotdharsho Kasar spoke on “Saving and Investment” and stressed on the importance of differentiating between wants and needs. He pointed out that “we know saving is important. To avoid financial hardships in the future, we must be aware of how to save up. We need to be mindful and responsible for our finances. For those of us coming from poor financial standing, we need to be aware of how to build our wealth.
On savings through fixed and recurring deposits, he stated, “don’t start big but have a goal. Know your needs, what is best for you. You need to give time to save instead of rushing in” and he strongly warned against any investment through ponzi structures.
Themreingam Pheiray spoke on the various loan policies and asserted on the responsibility of loan borrowers that they must “repay what was borrowed. The faster you repay, the easier will it be for you to have access to more loans. But, don’t blindly take loans. Have a purpose for borrowing from the bank. Once you can acquire loans from the bank, it is important to secure your project with insurance. This gives an assurance to the banks, in case, the project for which your loan is taken fails.” He also stressed on keeping the borrower’s document clear, filing of Income Tax Returns and to avoid turning the borrower’s project into non-performing assets.
The programme concluded with an active interactions between the attendees and the resource persons.
