Sarathi – Improving Financial Health: Financial Inclusion and Upskilling for RMG Workers
The Sarathi – Progress Through Improved Financial Health initiative by Swisscontact aims to bring ready-made garment (RMG) workers into formal banking services and enhance their overall financial well-being. In addition to financial inclusion, the project offers upskilling and entrepreneurship training targeted at women workers to promote long-term economic resilience.
Five-Axis Transformation via Sarathi
Data: The project tracks financial inclusion metrics such as the number of savings accounts opened, digital financial transactions conducted, insurance uptake, credit profile development, and outreach activities among RMG communities.
Capacity Building / Technical Assistance: Sarathi provides financial literacy training, supports wage digitisation in factories, trains bank and mobile banking agents, and offers skill-upgrading and entrepreneurship training for women workers.
Technology / Machinery: It partners with technology providers and financial institutions to introduce digital financial access points, smartphone-enabled financial services, and tools that facilitate digitised savings, loans, insurance, and payments.
Finance: The initiative works with banks and insurers to introduce and scale customised micro-savings, micro-loan, and insurance products that are accessible and relevant to RMG workers and their communities.
Policy / Partnerships: Sarathi builds strategic alliances with industry associations, commercial banks, fintech firms, RMG factories, and NGOs to drive systemic change in financial inclusion and worker support mechanisms.
Strategic Impact & Value Proposition
Expanded Financial Access: Financial inclusion in the RMG sector improved from roughly one-third to nearly two-thirds of workers, reflecting strong progress in bank account ownership, savings, insurance, and digital transactions.
Women’s Economic Resilience: Women workers participated in upskilling courses and entrepreneurship training, boosting their employment prospects, leadership capacities, and economic independence.
Digital Financial Empowerment: Thousands of RMG workers adopted digital financial tools—such as savings accounts, insurance, credit profiles, and electronic transactions—strengthening their financial security and agency.
Scalable Model for Inclusion: Through partnerships with banks, mobile financial services, and industry associations, Sarathi demonstrates a viable, scalable approach to formal financial inclusion tailored to the RMG sector.
Enhanced Local Ecosystem: The initiative has fostered community-level access to financial services, improved service delivery (e.g. via agent banking), and strengthened networks supporting financial resilience and entrepreneurship.