Income and Saving Habits Among Rickshaw Pullers in Ranchi

Abstract

Income and its proper financial management is one of the major challenges for the Rickshaw Pullers. This study intends to explore and understand the income and saving habits among the Rickshaw Pullers in Ranchi city of Jharkhand state in India with special reference to challenges towards accessibility, affordability, and linkages with financial institutions and services rendered by them. The data was collected on one thousand Rickshaw Pullers from forty rickshaw garages in Ranchi city of Jharkhand. The findings of the study show that Rickshaw Pullers do not save money regularly because they lack access to financial services and institutions due to various reasons such as mistrust, ignorance, illiteracy and lack of documents such as identity proof. The study suggests that Rickshaw Pullers being a part of poor, marginalized and excluded population group should be linked to banking and other financial institutions, so that they can be brought into the mainstream with proper access and delivery of financial services. It is believed that saving habits and linkages with financial institutions will provide them financial security for themselves and their family members.