RBI's March financial inclusion index shows growth in all segments

The index has risen to 56.4 in March 2022, against 53.9 as of March 2021

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) financial inclusion (FI) index, which was constructed to capture the extent of financial inclusion across the country, has risen to 56.4 in March 2022, showing growth across all parameters. The index stood at 53.9 as of March 2021.

“The value of the FI Index for March 2022 stands at 56.4 vis-à-vis 53.9 in March 2021, with growth witnessed across all the sub-indices”, the central bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

The FI index was conceptualised as a comprehensive index incorporating details of banking, investments, insurance, postal as well as the pension sector in consultation with the government and respective sectoral regulators in August last year.

The FI-Index has been constructed without any ‘base year', and is published in July every year. The FI-Index comprises three broad parameters: access, with a weightage of 35 per cent; usage with 45 per cent weightage; and quality with 20 per cent weightage with each of these consisting of various dimensions, which are computed based on a number of indicators.