It is not that efforts have not been made in the past to promote financial inclusion. The Nationalization of banks, Lead Bank Scheme, incorporation of Regional Rural Banks, Service Area Approach and formation of Self-Help Groups- all these were initiatives to take banking services to the masses.
In the case of the United States and Europe, a significant expansion of the central bank balance sheet was indispensable to restoring stability in financial markets that had suffered significant damage to their functioning after the Lehman shock. Once provided to financial markets, the funds remained piled up in deposits with central banks because of negligible opportunity costs amid extremely low interest rate levels.