Qualitative Variables Affecting Financial Inclusion in India: Exploring Future Direction for Policy Makers

 

Saif Siddiqui¹*, Sumaira Jan²

¹Assistant Professor, Centre for Management Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia – A Central University,

Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025

²Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Management Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia – A Central University,

Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025

 

ABSTRACT:

The 12^th five year plan of India portrays inclusive growth as one of its key objectives. This makes development of rural India a key component for the overall progress. Financial Inclusion Plan (FIP) is a highly effective way to achieve such inclusive growth.  As indicated by researchers, the lacunae of policy implementation are the impediments for faster inclusive financial growth in India. Government wants to increase financial inclusion and measure it on the basis of quantitative variables, reasonable attention has not been given to qualitative variables. This study identifies and analyses the qualitative variables which are the possible blockades in the way of financial inclusion. Responses have been collected, with the help of a structured questionnaire, from 206 respondents from the rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir. It is concluded that there is low to moderate level of financial literacy among the prospective beneficiaries and government’s efforts are not sufficient to provide them adequate information. Cumbersome banking procedures, unsuitable products/services, absence of bank branches, illiteracy, social exclusion etc are the other factors that are holding the growth of financial inclusion in India.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Financial inclusion is the delivery of the banking services to the people who are so far deprived of it or cannot afford them due to economical and social reasons. In India, it started with giving those who need a basic bank account, called no-frills account, on which multiple operations can be employed.

 

Apart from no-frills account, other services and products offered under financial inclusion include: Differential rate of interest, micro credit card, micro-overdraft, micro recurring deposit scheme and micro-remittance. Under financial inclusion least KYC (Know Your Customer) norms are followed. The model employed in India for financial inclusion is the business correspondent model.  In it, the government achieves its objective of inclusive growth, banks are able to fulfill their responsibility towards the society and the unbanked people get access to basic banking and financial services. Recently CRISIL proposed an index, CRISIL-Inclusix, on which the financial inclusion can be measured in the country. This is based on three broad dimensions, Deposit penetration, Credit penetration and Branch penetration. An overall national score (40.1/100) of financial inclusion as per this index is relatively low. Some states over shine others. Southern region of the country has been able to achieve best out of this plan of the government but north-eastern region has failed in it miserably. This shows that we have not been able to achieve much in the process of financial inclusion. There are lacunae which we need to identify and remove. So far, the government has focused on increasing the dimensions of credit, deposit and branch penetration, but focus on qualitative variables like promoting financial literacy, making cumbersome banking procedures easy, replace unsuitable products/services by the customized ones  etc. is lesser. This study focuses on understanding qualitative variables for promotion of financial inclusion.

 

LITERATURE REVIEW:

Kuriakose and Iyer (2015) conducted a study which links the financial development with the human development in the light of financial inclusion. It attempts to portray financial inclusion as a way to ensure financial development which ultimately leads to the development of humans in a nation. This study is based on the analysis of the historical and the philosophical strands of the available literature. Chavan and Birajdar (2009) proposed a study which suggests that all over the world micro-finance is seen as a credit based way to reduce poverty and achieve financial inclusion. This study used primary and secondary data on self help groups to understand the role that these institutions play in the financial inclusion among the people who are financially excluded. The findings of this study proposed that the spread of micro-finance as a source of credit is very limited across India which makes financial inclusion still a not so widely spread phenomenon. Dutta (2015) in her study proposed that finance is an integral part of any economy. Banking institutions are prime agents of facilitating inclusive growth in the country. This study believes that in the achievement of inclusive growth, the policy makers need to go for segmenting the market on the basis of different customer needs of each group. She suggests a change in the product design offered under the financial inclusion to ensure greater satisfaction among the customers at various levels. Singh and Tandon (2008) explained that more than 150 million poor people have access to collateral-free loans. Still there is a huge chunk of population in the world which is deprived from the various sources of finance. Since the process of planning has been initiated in India, the objective of inclusive growth has been one of the top agendas as per this study. Eleventh five year plan greatly emphasizes the need for reaching to the poorer sections of the society. This study believes that Indian entrepreneurs are rated among the richest persons in the world. So there is a high level of disparity between the rich and the poor. This study proposes that financial inclusion is that way which can be used to reduce this disparity and make poor a step ahead in their income level and hence life style. Mehrotra and Yetman (2015) in their study discussed the issues which the central banks could face due to the implementation of the financial inclusion plan. This study credits the issues to the rapid credit growth in the unbanked and under-banked areas and also to those unregulated parts of the financial system which could grow quickly due to financial inclusion. Shankar (2013) in her study suggested that financial inclusion which is to bring banking services to the unbanked and under banked sections is an important tool to reduce poverty in developing countries like India. This study suggests micro-finance institutions as a tool to reduce barriers in the way of financial services access in the country. This study involved interviewing people from 103 micro-finance institutions and found that no doubt they reduce barriers in the way of financial access but their outreach is not so good. Loans from them have high interest rates and make them too expensive for the poor. This again makes exclusion of poor from the formal financial sources. This study suggests that MFIs need to adopt more flexible model of operation to make it easily accessible and cheaper for the poor. Kumar (2015) proposed that finance is an indispensable component to ensure the development of the society and the economy. Financial inclusion is seen as one such strategy to ensure this development at the economic and the social levels. This study focuses on the various initiatives which have been taken by the various banks for ensuring the inclusive growth in the country. Dev (2006) in his study explained that financial inclusion is highly important for improving the conditions of the poor farmers and other vulnerable groups which lack access to the financial system of the country.  This study proposes that self help groups and micro finance institutions should be given more importance to make financial inclusion a success and reach to the poor in a better way. This will require new regulatory procedures and depoliticisation of the financial sector of the nation as per this study. Kumar (2014) said that the banking industry has shown great growth and exposure in its volume and complexity in the last few decades. Irrespective of this, there are concerns that banks have not been able to reach to the people who are poor and actually need money. The problem of exclusion is not just in the developing nations but also in the developed countries as well. Although differences are there in the degree and magnitude of this exclusion. This study proposed that in developing nations like India, government needs to refine its policies and procedures which are best suited for the needs of the weaker and deprived sections of the society. It suggests that financial inclusion is one such way where poor can be granted access to the financial sector which they can use to improve their conditions. Mehar (2014) proposed a study which says that India has been able to make impressive policy reforms in the banking sector since early 1990’s. This lead to tremendous growth in the economy and the financial sector also grew impressively. But still huge chunk of population lies below the poverty line. This study suggests for improving the overall efficiency of this allocation of financial resources especially among the poor and needy. This will lead to the reduction in poverty and overall economic growth will increase considerably. This study analyzed the recent developments in the banking reforms especially financial inclusion and how it can be used to reduce poverty at a greater level. Madurai (2011) said that financial inclusion involves delivery of the banking services to the unbanked and under-banked people at an affordable cost. Its main objective is to ensure sustainable development and provide employment to people living in rural areas. The study adds that out of total 19.9 crore households, only 6.82 crores have access to banking services in India. This study explains that state level banking committees are established to know about the villages and areas which are highly excluded so that they can be targeted for bringing out financial inclusion in them. The status of financial inclusion varies in different states and UTs depending on factors like credit penetration etc. this study proposes the roadmap suggested for bringing about the financial inclusion in the country as put forward by the government. Swamy (2011) explained in his study that access to finance is the pre-condition for the reduction of poverty and for the development of the nation. All around the world nearly 3 billion people lack access to the formal financial services. This study identifies the issues and challenges that accrue due to the implementation of the financial inclusion across world especially in India. This situation becomes worse in the wake of economic slowdown and high inflation rates across the world. The barriers identifies by the study include transaction costs, behavioral issues etc. Indian banking structure is also explained in detail in this study. Handoo (2010) in his study proposed that financial inclusion is one of the top policy priorities of the government of India. Social inclusion is one of the top agendas of the governments ever since the independence. Reserve bank of India has always been proactive in its attempt to promote inclusion of poor and weaker sections. But to reach out to massive 400 million plus people, the financial inclusion plan faces huge challenges along its length and breadth. So the government needs to adopt such a model where maximum challenges are overcome and maximum people are reached. This study focuses on how this technology led financial inclusion has reached to the bottom of the pyramid successfully. This study also addresses that how in future the financial inclusion can be of help to the people at the bottom of the pyramid. Gattoo and Akhtar (2014) discussed the role which the financial inclusion plays as a developmental tool for any nation. The study proposes that access to finance is a major impediment for any poor household to emerge out of the dark days that they have to face. This study proposes that financial inclusion should be seen in isolation without any connection with the other developmental programmes if we want to assess the true impact of such plan on the unbanked and under-banked people. Rao (2009) examined the impact that the credit policies and the financial innovations have on the financial inclusion plan in India. He does an in depth analysis of the data from national sample survey organizations to understand the inclusion of the unbanked and under-banked which has been achieved so far. Paramasivan and Kumar (2013) explained that inclusive growth is only possible through the proper allocation of resources from top to bottom. Financial inclusion through its property of being innovative is able to promote banking habits among those who are at the bottom of the social pyramid. Since India is a nation with huge number of rural population so need is to reach to them as per this study. Since financial inclusion aims at fair and transparent delivery of financial services, this will eventually lead to the overall economic development of the nation as per this study. Bagli and Dutta (2012) said that the government of India has recently taken many initiatives towards financial inclusion. This study examines the status of this plan in various states of the country. Data from Reserve bank of India and government of India has been used for the said purpose. The results show that southern India has performed pretty well in its state of financial inclusion compared to the other regions of the country. This study further reveals positive association between the human development and the status of financial inclusion in different states in India. Sarma and Pais (2011) posed an important question in their study: whether development leads to an all round inclusive financial system. This study empirically tries to establish the relation between financial inclusion and development of the economy. The findings reveal that they move closely to each other. Chibba (2009) proposed that although much has been done towards reduction of poverty but nothing has seemed to be much significant in its impact. The study believes that financial inclusion is incremental and complementary in its approach to reduce poverty and ensure sustainable development in the country. This study emphasizes the need to strengthen the model of financial inclusion to make it more efficient and effective in its path of global development both socially as well as economically. Chakrabarty (2013) in his speech emphasized the role which the financial inclusion plan has played so far in reaching to the poor. He noted the various initiatives which have been taken by the government of India under the flagship of different programmes for connecting to the weaker sections. He further adds that it is in its incubation stage and has still a long way to go ahead. He also adds the importance that the plan has in ensuring the overall economic and social development among the people at the bottom of the pyramid. Here, some studies focus on specific regions; some cover the variables. Even an index has been given to know about its success/failure or simply reach in different regions/states/districts etc of the country. But studies have not explored empirically, the possible blockades in the way of successful implementation of this policy in the country the areas or issues in financial inclusion do the policy makers need to address to make it highly effective and the qualitative variables are there to push financial inclusion towards growth and make the quantitative variables like branch penetration, credit penetration etc more effective. We seek to explore the same in this study.

 

METHODOLOGY:

This study is conducted in the rural areas of State of Jammu and Kashmir in India. Primary data has been collected through structured questionnaires from the respondents. The sample size has been 206 for the study. Sample has been collected in the months of April, May, June and July of the year 2015. An unbanked or an under-banked person is the sampling unit. The data gathered was analyzed using SPSS 21.0. Using compute variable feature of SPSS 21.0 independent questions regarding awareness about the FIP and its various aspects and Involvement with the business correspondents were collaborated and combined into one as: level of awareness about the Financial Inclusion Plan (FIP) and its various aspects (awareness about the financial inclusion plan, awareness about the products offered under the FIP and awareness about the concerned area being under the FIP of the government) and involvement with the business correspondents (satisfaction with the business correspondents, knowledge level of business correspondents, frequency of visiting business correspondents and time to reach business correspondents).

 

OBJECTIVES:

Objectives are as follows:

1.        To know the level of awareness about the Financial Inclusion Plan (FIP) among the masses.

2.        To identify the problems which people face in interacting with the banks and the business correspondents.

3.        To identify the blockades in the way of financial inclusion in India.

 

RESEARCH HYPOTHESES:

Hypotheses are as follows:

1.        H₀₁= People are unaware about the financial inclusion plan (FIP) going on in the country.

2.        H₀₂=People are unaware about the products/services which are offered under the Financial Inclusion Plan.

3.        H₀₃=People face no problems in interacting with the banks and the business correspondents.

4.        H₀₄=Financial inclusion is not effected by qualitative variables.

 

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:

Data Analysis and its interpretation are presented as under:

 

Validity and Reliability:

Factor analysis is an important technique to assess the internal construct validity. Previous studies show that Dimension Reduction technique is used for factor analysis. In this technique KMO measure is tested and value of KMO above 0.6 is considered for adequate sampling.

 

Table 1: KMO and Bartlett's Test

 

Before starting the data analysis, it is important to check the reliability of the data collected from the sample. The results reveal that the data used for the study is adequate enough to proceed on with it, because KMO measure is 0.906. In this research, the multi-item scale measuring different aspects about financial inclusion were checked for reliability and it was found to be:

 

Table 2: Reliability Statistics

 

As per the reliability test conducted, value of Cronbach’s Alpha for all items, comes out to be 0.922 which is considered to be very good for the study.

 

Awareness about the FIP and its various aspects:

This variable was the outcome of three computing variables including: (i) awareness about the financial inclusion plan, (b) awareness about the products offered under the FIP and (iii) awareness about the concerned area being under the FIP of the government. The various items under the variable “awareness” were clubbed into one in table 3.

 

Table 3: Awareness about the FIP and its various aspects

 

 

The results revealed to have moderate to low level of awareness about the financial inclusion plan and its various aspects among the prospective beneficiaries. Same was seen in the case of people being unaware about the various products/services offered under the financial inclusion plan. There is low to moderate level of financial literacy among the prospective beneficiaries of the financial inclusion in India. They are mostly unaware of what this plan is, what benefits it has for them, what products/services are offered under it, do they fall under this plan or not. All these questions remain unanswered for most of them. So when they are unaware they don’t get the possible benefits, they don’t act to increase the demand of such products/services and hence the supply which the government claims to be high, remains unexplored and unexploited. There by considerably affecting the growth and success of the financial inclusion plan. Enhancing financial literacy of the prospective beneficiaries is what we suggest in this study. It will act as an instrument to raise demand for the various banking services. This will help the poor and needy to face the challenges which are put forward by the formal financial sector of our country. And eventually the status of the financial inclusion in India will be far better than what it is today.

 

Involvement with the Business Correspondents:

Four items were clubbed into this variable about the various aspects of involvement with the business correspondents. The items clubbed are: (i) satisfaction with the business correspondents, (ii) knowledge level of business correspondents, (iii) frequency of visiting business correspondents and (iv) time to reach business correspondents.

 

Table 4: Involvement with the business correspondents

 

The results reveal that people have moderate to high level of involvement with the business correspondents. This shows the potential of business correspondents to greatly influence the success/failure of financial inclusion in the country. When asked about the behaviour, knowledge and overall satisfaction with the business correspondents, it was rated at par. Respondents rated the importance of business correspondents to them above average. This means that the business correspondent model is really working for the financial inclusion plan to operate in India. Business correspondents are the true agents of the plan who work whole heartedly to ensure not just the survival but also the continuous growth of the financial inclusion plan. But here problem was seen not at the respondent level but with the business correspondents at most of the places. The business correspondents have some problems with the government: their salaries have not been released from the past 8 or 9 months, they are not being paid for the expenses they make on behalf of the government etc. Interviews with business correspondents revealed that majority of them want to leave this job and do something better to ensure the survival of their families. They have even protested on the streets against the injustice done to them and the work they do at many places. This again puts the fate of financial inclusion at risk. Government needs to realize how important business correspondents are for this plan to work and fulfill all their legal demands so that they again put their whole heart and efforts into the survival and growth of the financial inclusion in the country.

 

Source of information about the FIP:

One more finding of this study proposes that among the respondents who actually know about the financial inclusion plan, least are those who came to know about it from any type of government source.

 

Table 5: Source of information about the FIP

 

This puts the credibility of government for advertising this plan among the prospective beneficiaries to enhance financial literacy at stake. When government launches any public welfare scheme they need to publicize it using the suitable sources keeping in view the nature and kind of the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries of financial inclusion plan are the ones who can’t even afford to have a basic bank account and are hardly able to make their living. Advertising through print and electronic media won’t be a good option in this case. We suggest campaigning and sending people to prospective beneficiaries and their villages would be able to fetch some better results. This will ensure greater public engagement and action. Most of the respondents have no information at all about the financial inclusion plan and those who know have listed friends, relatives, social groups etc as the source of information. Very less are those who have known about it from any type of governmental source.

 

Smart Card Availability:

Information about the availability of smart card availability is provided in following table.

 

 

Table 6: Smart Card Availability

 

Most of the respondents don’t have a smart card, only few have it and many have applied for it but not yet received. Need of the hour is to ensure the availability of the smart cards as and when required and make the process of reaching to the poor a true success. When asked about the smart cards which lay the basic foundation of the financial inclusion plan to work, quite a good number of respondents didn’t have one. Majority had applied for it but not yet received. This again puts government’s efforts at the point of questioning. The whole concept of financial inclusion in India works on smart cards. All the benefits and all the accounts opened under the plan are accessible only through the smart cards which become operational via the POT (Point Of Transaction) machines carried by the business correspondents. Its presence makes financial inclusion a success while as its absence poses some grave questions before those who work for the plan. Ensuring the availability of smart cards to the beneficiaries of the plan, is what we want to suggest in this study to the policy makers of our nation if they truly want to achieve the mission and vision of the financial inclusion plan in the country.

 

Problems faced in visiting banks and the business correspondents:

Cumbersome banking procedures, attitude of banking officials, unsuitable products/services, absence of bank branches in villages, illiteracy, social exclusion, fears associated with the banks and like financial institutions, religious issues etc are among the various factors which respondents claimed to be the problems which they face in visiting banks and the business correspondents.

 

Table 7: Problems faced in visiting banks and the business correspondents

Options	Frequency	Percent
No bank branch in my village	40	19.4
Cumbersome banking procedures	62	30.1
Unsuitable products/services	45	21.8
Attitude of banking officials Others	42 17	20.4 8.3
Total	206	100.0

Government needs to address all these issues in their domain to ensure that the downtrodden and weaker sections don’t feel isolated from the financial structure of the nation. This will involve making banking procedures very easy for them, giving them what they actually need not what they want to give them, reducing their fears associated with the banks and other financial institutions by instilling trust through assurance and advising, reducing the gaps between the poor and rich classes in the society, choosing a language which they can understand to communicate with them as most of them can’t speak the official languages or the common ones, and ensuring that banking officials have same attitude towards opening an account which operates at zero balance and the one making a daily transaction in Lakhs or Crores. Above table portrays the absence of bank branches, cumbersome banking procedures, unsuitable products/services offered and the attitude of banking officials as the main problems faced in visiting banks and the business correspondents. There were only few respondents who had no problems in visiting banks and the business correspondents. Other problems faced include: language barriers, fear of excessive interest charged by the banks in case of credit taken, religious issues with the interest, very low income etc. This puts to light the fact that there are many obstacles in the way of prospective beneficiaries of the FIP in reaching to the place where they could get some benefits from the government.

 

Correlations:

This table proves that there is a high level of co-relationship between the awareness about the FIP among the respondents and their involvement with the business correspondents. Those respondents who are more involved with the business correspondents are supposed to be highly aware about the FIP and its various dimensions and aspects. This calls for the government to empower them more and make them effective instruments in making financial inclusion a success in the country. Given hypotheses are seen in the light of evidence collected in the form of qualitative data, from the respondents. The established significance considered for the study has been taken at 0.01.

 

 

 

Table 8: Correlations

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

 

RESULTS OF HYPOTHESES TESTING:

Results of Hypotheses Testing are tabulated as under:

 

CONCLUSION:

As data from CRISIL suggest, financial inclusion is not yet up to the mark of what it was expected.. There are many qualitative factors which are obstructing it, including financial illiteracy, attitude of banking officials to open free accounts and those operating at very low balances, inadequate legal and financial structure, unsuitable products/services etc. Although the time gap between the start of this plan and the current date is not much, but still had the level of financial literacy been high, had the products been more suitable, had the financial structure been adequate: the situation and the scenario of the financial inclusion would have been better. The government should give due consideration for the qualitative variables already suggested to ensure that the true measurement through quantitative variables. The study may help the policy makers of the country to know about the factors which hinder the successful implementation and growth of the financial inclusion plan. They can eliminate or reduce the identified factors for reducing poverty, enhancing financial literacy and ensuring sustainable development. The factors put forward by the study are highly crucial in terms of their weight age, which can be studied more deeply by the policy makers for successful implementation of the financial inclusion plan in the country.

 

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