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.