Measuring Financial Access -- Some Lessons for India

For inclusive growth, financial inclusion is a necessary, though not sufficient condition. Inclusion is not just a one time exercise and certainly does not begin and end with opening a no-frills bank account. The access to financial services, particularly by lower income segments, needs to be constantly measured. This will require periodic, large scale sample surveys like IND-FLINT. Only doing surveys is not enough, however. We need to see the influence the process of these surveys on the financial inclusion. To do that, surveys need to be properly analyzed and indicate the point of immediate and long term interventions. It may work in terms of changing some policies and regulations and also helping in developing innovative products and channels to achieve financial inclusion. Financial regulators like the RBI, IRDA, SEBI and NABARD must emphasize access to financial services by the excluded segments, occupations and geographies. Their reports on this issue must be tabled in the Parliament and the Standing Committee on Finance should review progress on financial inclusion. It is only when the issue acquires political salience that it will be addresses comprehensively