Financial inclusion index increment to 64.2 in March 2024

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said the Financial Inclusion Index (FI-Index), which reflects the extent of financial inclusion across the country, stood at 64.2 in March 2024, up from 60.1 in March 2023.

The RBI said the improvement in the index was due to the growth seen in all sub-indices.
The index aggregates information on different aspects of financial inclusion into a single value between 0 and 100, where 0 represents complete financial exclusion and 100 represents complete financial inclusion.

The FI-Index comprises three broad parameters – access (35 per cent weighting in the index), utilization (45 per cent weighting), and quality (20 per cent weighting) and each of these comprises different dimensions, which are the basis of several indicators. Was calculated. The index is responsive to accessibility, availability and ease of use of services and quality of services, covering all 97 indicators.

The RBI said the improvement in the FI-index has been mainly contributed by the utilization dimension, reflecting the depth of financial inclusion.

The index has been conceptualized as an inclusive index covering banking, insurance, investment, postal and pension sector particulars in consultation with the Government and relevant sectoral regulators.

The FI-Index has been constructing without any ‘base year’ and thus reflects the increasing efforts of all stakeholders over the years on the way to financial inclusion. The annual FI-index for the period ending March 2021 was 53.9, while it was 43.4 for the period ending March 2017. The FI-Index is published every year in July.