Financial inclusion and policy impact in India: Evidence from the financial inclusion index

Abstract

Economic growth can be achieved if major focus is given towards inclusive growth, which means not only providing the access of financial inclusion to richer and high earning group of people but also making it available to the weaker section too. Financial inclusion is a process that measures the usage, access and quality of financial services provided to all the sections of people. As measuring financial inclusion is vital, it’s also important to understand the different parameters and their significant indicators. Understanding indicators will also help in analysing whether any initiatives done by RBI or GOI are having any positive impact on financial inclusion or not. This paper focuses on financial inclusion index and its major indicators that helps to measure the extent of access and availability of financial services like banking, credit facility, insurance facility, online payment etc. The purpose of this paper is to understand the origin of financial inclusion and status of financial inclusion year wise. The relevant data for this study has been collected from annual reports, research articles and online available sources. Relevant data of inclusion index were collected from RBI and CRISIL Inclusix Index to understand how financial inclusion increased in all these years. It was observed that since 2009 there is a constantly rise in the financial inclusion index which shows positive impact of initiatives taken by RBI and GOI.