Asian Journal of Research in Banking and Finance
Year : 2017, Volume : 7, Issue : 7
First page : ( 89) Last page : ( 100)
Online ISSN : 2249-7323.
Article DOI : 10.5958/2249-7323.2017.00071.2

Banking Outreach in Rural India: A State Level Analysis

Dr. Kaur Jatinder

Associate Professor & HOD, PG, Department of Commerce, Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Chandigarh, India, ggshreconf@gmail.com

Online published on 17 July, 2017.

Abstract

This study attempted to analyze and examine the status of banking outreach in rural India to measure the level of financial inclusion across 36 states and UTs of India for the year 2015. Banking outreach has been measured using six variables representing access, availability and usage dimension of banking outreach. The state-wise (rural) composite index of the selected variables has been prepared to represent the overall position of development of formal financial sector in each state and the states have been ranked on the basis of their FII (financial inclusion index) scores. The study shows low level of banking outreach (rural) across different states of India as only 25% of the states have been found to be in the above average category. The findings also depict presence of wide disparities amongst the states in terms of the selected indicators. The study holds greater relevance because now a day, all the plans and policies of the government are directed towards reducing disparities for promoting inclusive growth. Since widening rural-urban divide is a major concern in India so the study adds to the existing literature by offering some important policy implications for the promotion of financial inclusion in rural India.

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Keywords

Banks, Branches, Credit, Deposits, Financial Inclusion, Outreach, Rural, States.

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