Financial Inclusion Index for the Districts of Assam

Financial inclusion is a process of guaranteeing access to formal financial products and services to section of population at an affordable cost. It aims to make accessible of various financial services such as savings, credit and insurance by section of population especially by the weak and backward class. The present paper aims to present the banking profile of ten most populated districts of Assam i.e. Nagaon, Cachar, Barpeta, Kamrup, Dhubri, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sonitpur, Kamrup Metro and Karimganj. The study also focuses on various determinants of financial inclusion and compute financial inclusion index for the sample districts. Financial inclusion here is measured with the help of Financial Inclusion Index (FII) which takes into account three different dimensions of banking services such as availability, penetration and usages. The methodology adopted for the calculation of FII in the present study is similar to one adopted by UNDP for the calculation of HDI.