FINANCIAL INCLUSION INDEX - REPORTS AND INDICES

News: Financial inclusion index rises with growth across all segments: RBI

 

What's in the news?

       Recently, the Reserve Bank's FI-Index, capturing the extent of financial inclusion across the country, rose to 64.2 in March 2024, showing growth across all parameters.

 

Financial Inclusion Index:

       The FI-Index is a comprehensive measure of financial inclusion, ranging from 0 to 100, with 0 representing complete financial exclusion and 100 indicating full financial inclusion.

 

Published by - RBI

 

Interval:

       The FI-Index is published annually in July every year.

 

Indicators:

It consists of three main parameters such as

       Access (35%)

       Usage (45%)

       Quality (20%).

 

The index is based on 97 indicators covering banking, investments, insurance, postal services, and pensions.

 

Other Important Takeaways:

       It was developed in consultation with the government and sectoral regulators to measure ease of access, availability, usage, and quality of financial services.

       The improvement in the index was driven by growth across all sub-indices, with the usage dimension contributing the most to the overall increase.

       The index has been constructed without a base year, reflecting the cumulative efforts of all stakeholders towards financial inclusion over the years.