64% of Indians used banks, more than in Bangladesh, Nigeria, Pakistan

Of over 45,000 Indians surveyed between September 2016 and January 2017, as many as 63% had a financial account of some kind, 64% of all bank account users had used their account in the last 90 days preceding the survey, but only 12% used an advanced bank account service in 2016, according to Intermedia, a research organisation that conducts financial inclusion surveys across India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda.

The survey also found gaps in bank account usage across gender and geography with 47% males actively using bank accounts versus 33% females, and 46% urban Indian’s actively using banks versus 37% of those who live in rural areas.

Use of banks in India is higher than in other countries: 64% of Indians used a bank account, compared to 19% in Bangladesh, 30% in Indonesia, 31% in Kenya, 41% in Nigeria and 9% in Pakistan, according to the survey.

 

As many as 68% said they had access to a mobile phone while only 26% said they had ever received or sent a text message, showing that basic cell phone usage–key to using mobile payment systems–is still low in India. In comparison, 85% had access to a mobile phone in Bangladesh, 80% in Indonesia, 93% in Kenya and Nigeria, and 77% in Pakistan.

 

Use of mobile money in India (which does not include services such as Paytm) is about the same as that in Indonesia, with 1%, and Nigeria (2%), but lower as compared to Bangladesh (40%), Kenya (81%) and Pakistan (9%), the survey found.

 

 

(Shah is a writer/editor with IndiaSpend.)