Odisha's Financial Inclusion: A District-by-district Analysis

Abstract

The benefits of development are restricted to a tiny segment of the population unless growth is inclusive. If the common Indian wants to benefit from numerous government measures, financial inclusion is crucial. The government's emphasis has switched in recent years from promoting Fantastic India to creating Inclusive India. The study makes an effort to take a comprehensive look at the level of financial inclusion across all of Odisha's districts. In the current study, two variables—the number of branches and the number of bank accounts—are used to analyse the financial inclusion of Odisha at the district level for the years 2010 to 2020. The variables selected capture, at least generally, the distribution of the banking industry and, consequently, the degree of inclusion or absence. While a deposit account demonstrates the use and accessibility of banking, the distribution of branch locations indicates the depth of financial penetration. The Index of Financial Inclusion (IFI), a composite index, is then created by building individual indices for each component. For comparison, this is done for the years 2010 through 2020. The study makes it possible to classify the entire sample area into financial districts of various levels, including advanced, medium, and poor. There is no indication of a tendency for the discrepancy between districts with regard to financial inclusion to be decreasing, according to an econometric analysis of financial inclusion among districts over the research period. There is some hope in the new approach.