Financial Inclusion Index

• The value of the financial inclusion index (FI Index) for March 2023 stands at 60.1 as against 56.4 in March 2022, according to a statement released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

ABOUT THE INDEX

• The FI-Index has been constructed without any ‘base year’ and it reflects cumulative efforts of all stakeholders over the years towards financial inclusion.
• It ranges between 0 (complete financial exclusion) and 100 (complete financial inclusion).
• The FI-Index is published annually in July every year.
• RBI had introduced the FI-Index in 2021 with the purpose of capturing the extent of financial inclusion across the country.
• It comprises of three broad parameters – access (35 per cent), usage (45 per cent), and quality (20 per cent) with 97 indicators tracked.
• The index is responsive to ease of access, availability and usage of services, and quality of services.

NOTE-

• Financial inclusion refers to the efforts to provide access of financial tools and products to various segments of the society.
• In India, several banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), micro-finance institutions (MFIs) and fintech companies are active in this field.