India now ahead of China in financial inclusion metrics

What is the News?

According to the Chief economic adviser at State Bank of India (SBI), India is now ahead of China in financial inclusion metrics.

India’s Financial Inclusion Metrics

Mobile and Internet Banking Transactions: The mobile and Internet banking transactions have increased to 13,615 per 1,000 adults in 2020 from 183 in 2015.

Bank Branches: The number of bank branches has reached up to 14.7 per 1 lakh adults in 2020 from 13.6 in 2015 which is higher than in Germany, China and South Africa.

No Frills Account: 

The number of no-frills bank accounts has significantly increased.Of these, almost two-thirds are operational in rural and semi-urban areas and more than 78% of these accounts are with state-owned banks.

Note: RBI had introduced ‘no-frills’ accounts in 2005 to provide basic banking facilities to the poor and promote financial inclusion.The accounts could be maintained without or with very low minimum balance.

Banking Outlets: The number of banking outlets in villages /  banking correspondent (BC) had increased from 34,174 in 2010 to 12.4 lakh in 2020.

Note: Banking Correspondents (BCs) are individuals/entities engaged by a bank for providing banking services in unbanked/under-banked geographical territories.

Source: This post is based on the article “India now ahead of China in financial inclusion metrics” published in The Hindu on 9th November 2021.