Mumbai, July 22 (IANS) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday said that the country’s financial inclusion index (FI-Index) rose to 67 in March 2025 — marking a 4.3 pc increase over the previous year.
The index stood at 64.2 in March 2024, according to the central bank statement.
“Index for the year ending March 2025 has since been compiled. The value of FI-Index for March 2025 stands at 67 vis-a-vis 64.2 in March 2024, with growth witnessed across all sub-indices, viz, access, usage and quality,” RBI said in a release.
The FI-Index is a measure developed by the RBI to track how well financial services are reaching people across the country.
It captures the level of financial inclusion using data from different sectors, including banking, insurance, investments, pensions and postal services.
The index ranges from 0 to 100, where 0 means complete financial exclusion and 100 means full financial inclusion.
According to the RBI, the improvement in this year’s index was mainly driven by better performance in the usage and quality of financial services.
This suggests that not only are more people using financial products, but they are also benefiting from better service quality.
The RBI also credited ongoing efforts in financial education and awareness campaigns for the positive results.
The Financial Inclusion Index is published once a year and was first introduced in August 2021, covering data for the year ending March 2021.
It is based on three main parameters — access, usage and quality — which carry different weightages in the index: access at 35 per cent, usage at 45 per cent and quality at 20 per cent.
The RBI developed the index in consultation with the government and sector regulators to provide a comprehensive view of how inclusive the financial system is.
The latest rise in the FI-Index reflects steady progress in making financial services more accessible and useful to people across India.
–IANS
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