Book Overview

Introduction Ever since independence, poverty has been a cause of concern for India and removal of poverty has remained an important policy objective. The former PM Mrs. Indira Gandhi gave the slogan “Garibi Hatao”, at that time India was perceived as a poor and underdeveloped country by the rest of the world. This was true because a vast majority of the population was dependent on agriculture, with low incomes and standard of living. Despite the rapid growth of GDP observed in India, a major chunk is still below poverty line especially because a great economic divide is seen in rural and urban areas. Financial inclusion implies delivery of financial services at an affordable cost to the vast sections of disadvantaged and low income groups. It can be understood in two ways, one is exclusion from the payment system i.e. not having access to a bank account, the second is exclusion from formal credit markets requiring the excluded to approach informal and exploitative markets. One common measure of FI is the percentage of adult population having bank accounts. Going by the latest available data for the year 2015, slightly over 50% of the adult population has bank accounts.