From the demand side, the big barriers are the lack of awareness about financial services and products, limited literacy, especially financial literacy of the populace, and social exclusion. Many of the generic financial products are unsuitable for the poor and there is not much of an effort to design products suitable to their needs.
The unfriendly and unempathetic attitude of the banks to the customers also plays an important role in undermining the demand for financial services. On top of that, exorbitant and oftentimes non-transparent fees, combined with burdensome terms and conditions attached to the financial products, also dampens the demand. 25. From the supply side, the main barrier is the transaction costs that the bankers perceive.