Index of financial inclusion: State level empirical study in India Dr. Singh Anoop Kumar1, Singh Shreyanshu2 1Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Economics, University of Lucknow, Lucknow. singhaklu@gmail.com 2Research Scholar (UGC SRF), Department of Applied Economics, University of Lucknow, Lucknow. shreyanshu_7@yahoo.co.in JEL CODES: G2, G20, G21, O1. Online published on 20 September, 2018. Abstract Financial inclusion has become an apt paradigm of economic development which plays an important role in devastate the poverty. Inclusive financial system is the key obligation for inclusive growth. This study proposes a multidimensional Index of financial inclusion for states and union territories of India for the year 2016 and analyzes the improvement of financial inclusion by comparing the Index of financial inclusion for the year 2016 and year 2011. Index of financial inclusion for the year 2011 is also computed by the author. Various dimensions have been used to compute index of financial inclusion (IFI) as Banking penetration, Availability of Banking Services and Usage. IFI takes value between 0 and 1, where 0 denotes complete financial exclusion and 1 denotes complete financial inclusion. Chandigarh, Delhi and Goa are at the top three positions respectively and Manipur is at the lowest position in the country for both years 2011 and 2016. With the exception of some states, the majority of the states have shown very little improvement or change in IFI and their ranks in 2016 than 2011. Top Keywords Financial Inclusion, Index of Financial Inclusion, Inclusive growth, Financial System, Economic Development. Top |