Financial inclusion index rises with
growth across all segments, says RBI
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.
The index captures information on various aspects of
financial inclusion in a single value ranging between 0 and 100, where 0
represents complete financial exclusion and 100 indicates full financial
inclusion.
"The value of the index for March 2024 stands
at 64.2 vis--vis 60.1 in March 2023, with growth witnessed across all
sub-indices," the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a statement on
Tuesday.
Improvement in FI-Index is mainly contributed by
usage dimension, reflecting deepening of financial inclusion, it added.
The FI-Index comprises three broad parameters --
access (35 per cent), usage (45 per cent), and quality (20 per cent) -- with
each of these consisting of various dimensions, which are computed based on a
number of indicators.
In August 2021, the central bank said FI-Index has
been conceptualised as a comprehensive index, incorporating details of banking,
investments, insurance, postal, as well as the pension sector, in consultation
with government and respective sectoral regulators.
The index is responsive to ease of access,
availability and usage of services, and quality of services.
According to RBI, a unique feature of the index is
the quality parameter which captures the quality aspect of financial inclusion
as reflected by financial literacy, consumer protection and inequalities and
deficiencies in services.
www.business-standard.com,
dt. 10-07-2024