Region-Wise Usage of Banking Services – A study of Gujarat

Abstract

Financial services actively contribute to the humane & economic development of the nation. Financial services lead to social and economic safety hence, each & every individual should be provided with affordable institutional financial products/services popularly called ―Financial Inclusion‖. Despite witnessing substantial progress in financial sector reforms in India, it is overwhelming to note that nearly half of the rural households even today do not have any access to any source of funds (savings/credit) - institutional or otherwise. Hardly one-fourth of the rural households are assisted by banks. Hence the major task before banks are to bring most of those excluded, i.e. 75 percent of the rural households, under the mainstream of formal financial services. There is a need for the formal financial system to look at increasing financial literacy and financial counseling. As a part of corporate social responsibility now a day’s Indian banks and financial market players should actively look at promoting such programs. Financial products& services are identified as basic banking services like deposits accounts, institutional loans, access to payment, remittance facilities & also life & non-life insurance services. The present paper is an attempt to capture the region-wise usage of banking services. The study collected data of 900 respondents from five regions of Gujarat i.e. South Gujarat, North Gujarat, Central Gujarat, Saurashtra, and Kachchh. The study used a five-point Likert scale agreement method to understand the usage of banking services. Also, the study captured the demographic profile of respondents from. The primary data collected through a structure questionnaire.