The economics of access to finance and status of financial inclusion in India

Abstract

Access to financial services or financial inclusion as a development perspective continues to enjoy global relevance. Access to finance continues to be a major impediment for a rural household to emerge out of poverty and destitution. In India as well, the pockets of poverty are coincided with the pockets of financial exclusion. Although lot of affirmative action has been done in this regard still more needs to be done. A big step in this regard may be to do away with the perception of looking at financial inclusion policy in isolation devoid of any interconnectedness with other development programmes. Also over emphasis on financial deepening can have negative implications on growth and development of any society, if the complimentary factors that help a household to reap the benefits of financial access are not present.