RBI's financial inclusion index hits 67 in March 2025, reflecting growth

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) financial inclusion index, which captures the extent of usage of financial services across the country, has increased to 67 in the financial year ending March 2025 (FY25), compared to 64.2 in the corresponding period the previous year.

 

The central bank on Tuesday said that growth was witnessed across all sub-indices – access, usage, and quality.

 

“Improvement in financial inclusion index (FI – Index) in FY25 is contributed by usage and quality dimensions, reflecting deepening of financial inclusion, and sustained financial literacy initiatives,” RBI said in its statement.

 

“The steady rise in the financial inclusion index to 67 is a clear indication that India is moving beyond access to real usage and trust in financial services. It reflects the success of ecosystem-wide efforts to bring underserved communities into the formal financial fold not just digitally, but meaningfully,” said Deepak Verma, MD & CEO, FINDI.

 

The financial inclusion index was first published in August 2021 for FY21. 

 

The FI-Index is 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 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 FI-Index comprises three broad parameters – access, with 35 per cent weightage; usage with 45 per cent weightage; and quality with 20 per cent weightage.

 

India has made significant strides in expanding financial inclusion through initiatives like the Jan Dhan Yojana. Under the scheme, a total of 558.3 million accounts have been opened, including 372.6 million in rural and semi-urban areas and 185.7 million in metro centres. Notably, 311.3 million of these accounts have been opened in the name of female beneficiaries.