As artificial intelligence advances each day, India is taking steps not only for the youth to get aligned with the technology, but is ensuring youngsters are learning skills beyond that, which can come in use in everyday life. For example, NCERT's new Class 9 Social Science textbook will include lessons on fixed deposits, mutual funds, loan repayments and business plans, where students will be taught the basics of setting up start ups.
Moreover, India now has several initiatives that promote financial education among children and young adults, with the effort spread across Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, schools, colleges and the government overall.
The objective of these initiatives are to introduce financial concepts early among youngsters, wherein they will learn how money works, how to save, budgeting, borrow responsibly, understand investments and avoid financial fraud.
Here are 5 areas the government and regulators are working on to enhance students' understanding of finance:
1. Financial education in schools
- National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE): Runs financial literacy programmes for school students, including its Money Smart School Programme.
- CBSE: Has incorporated financial literacy-related topics into school education which offer financial market and money management-related learning initiatives.
- RBI: India's central bank is promoting basic financial awareness through school-level outreach programmes, competitions, educational material and awareness campaigns. It emphasis is on introducing concepts such as savings, banking, budgeting, insurance and responsible borrowing among students.
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2. RBI's financial literacy initiatives
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has dedicated financial inclusion and education programmes at financial literacy centres, which conduct camps, including programmes targeting schoolchildren, farmers, women and students in schools, those pursuing undergraduate programmes and post graduates.
- Educational material explaining banking, digital payments, savings, responsible borrowing and consumer protection are all part of RBI's 'curriculum'. Moreover, financial literacy week, an annual awareness initiatives built around specific themes, which are an important component in teaching young people to use digital financial services like UPI and mobile banking safely.
- A significant development is RBI's Project Jagrook. Launched in October 2026, it is a nationwide financial literacy campaign and one of its components is MUST (Mentoring of University/College Students by Trainers), under which faculty members, staff and senior students are trained to teach financial literacy and investor awareness on campuses.
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3. SEBI's push to introduce students to financial markets
The Securities and Exchange Board of India is working to familiarise young people with investing and securities markets. Some of its initiatives include, visits of school students to the SEBI office, SEBI officials visiting schools and colleges, along with addressing requests of SEBI officials conducting educational sessions at their institutions. Here, students can learn about capital markets, and about the regulator's role in investor protection.
All About SEBI's Financial Apps:
- Saa₹thi app: SEBI's investor education app provides information on securities markets, KYC, investor grievance redressal and personal finance.
- SMART (Securities Market Trainers): A network of trained individuals who conduct investor awareness programmes.
- Investor education material: SEBI provides multilingual learning material on shares, mutual funds, ETFs, IPOs, investment risks and investor rights.
4. National Centre for Financial Education:
The NCFE, promoted by India's financial sector regulators, is one of the central institutions working on financial education. Its programmes cover different age groups, for example its Money Smart School Programme (MSSP) is for students from classes VI-X, while the other programmes target students from Classes VI-XII. The programmes advance to reach graduates postgraduates and college students.
5. Finance literacy competitions and quizzes
India is holding competitions to make financial education more engaging. The RBI has conducted nationwide financial literacy quizzes for students in Classes VIII-X. Its 2023 quiz saw participation from 1,03,388 students across 51,694 schools.
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