Bill Gates pledges support to PM Modi for India's financial inclusion efforts

Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates on Friday offered support for strengthening of efforts of the Indian government towards financial inclusion and pitched for the need to lower the cost of clean energy to the level of hydrocarbons.

This was articulated by Gates when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and discussed various issues which included clean energy initiatives, financial inclusion, sanitation, health and nutrition.

Gates also said there has been enormous progress on financial inclusion (in India) and offered support to strengthen the efforts in this direction, a PMO statement said.

"The issue of leveraging existing postal infrastructure to create hybrid payment banks across the country was also discussed," the statement added.

Gates was also "appreciative of the work done in India in the field of renewable energy and emphasised to the need to lower the cost of clean energy to the level of hydrocarbons".

The co-chair and trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also appreciated the work done, particularly in the domain of the introduction of new vaccines, the statement said, adding the 'Swachh Bharat' campaign and the government's efforts to improve sanitation were discussed at length between him and Modi.