Skip to main content

What is Financial Inclusion (FI) Index?

Achieving complete financial inclusion is one of the important goals of the nations and central banks across the world. But how do we measure the extent to which the population of the country is financially included? Well, there is an index in India for this.

What is Financial Inclusion (FI) Index?

The composite Financial Inclusion (FI) Index was constructed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in August 2021, to capture the extent of financial inclusion across the country.

FI-Index has been conceptualised as a comprehensive index incorporating details of banking, investments, insurance, postal as well as the pension sector in consultation with Government and respective sectoral regulators. 

What are the parameters of FI-index?

The FI-index comprises of three broad parameters (comprising of 97 indicators) with different weights assigned to each parameter.

  1. Ease of Access (35%)
  2. Availability and usage of services (45%)
  3. Quality of services (20%)

The 'Quality' parameters captures the quality aspect of financial inclusion as reflected by financial literacy, consumer protection, and inequalities and deficiencies in services.

What is the base year of FI-index?

The FI-index has been constructed without any 'base-year' and as such it reflects cumulative efforts of all stakeholders over the years towards financial inclusion.

What does FI-index value mean?

The FI-index captures information on various aspects of financial inclusion in a single value ranging between 0 and 100, where 0 represents complete financial exclusion and 100 indicates full financial inclusion.

How often is FI-index released?

The FI-index (as on March) is published by RBI annually in the months of July.

What is FI-index value in India?

(Updated on July 22, 2025)

The value of FI-Index for March 2025 stands at 67.0 vis-à-vis 64.2 in March 2024, with growth witnessed across all sub-indices, viz., Access, Usage and Quality. Improvement in FI-Index in FY 2025 is contributed by Usage and Quality dimensions, reflecting deepening of financial inclusion, and sustained financial literacy initiatives.


References

Reserve Bank of India. (2021, August 17). 'Reserve Bank of India introduces the Financial Inclusion Index'. Retrieved from https://rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=52068

Reserve Bank of India. (2025, July 22). 'Financial Inclusion Index for March 2025'. Retrieved from https://rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=60875


Follow at - Telegram   Instagram   LinkedIn   Twitter

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) 2025-30

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has published National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) 2025-30. Financial Inclusion The Committee on Financial Inclusion (Chairman: Dr C Rangarajan, RBI, 2008) defined financial inclusion as “the process of ensuring access to financial services, timely and adequate credit for vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low-income groups at an affordable cost”. The Committee on Medium-Term Path to Financial Inclusion (Chairman: Shri Deepak Mohanty, RBI, 2015) viewed financial inclusion as, “convenient access to a basket of basic formal financial products and services that should include savings, remittance, credit, government-supported insurance and pension products to small and marginal farmers and low income households at reasonable cost with adequate protection progressively supplemented by social cash transfers, besides increasing the access of small and marginal enterprises to formal finance with a greater reliance on technology to cut costs an...
Post a Comment
Read more

RBI’s Monetary Policy (December 05, 2025): In A Nutshell

The bi-monthly monetary policy of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was announced on December 05, 2025. Here are some of the highlights of the monetary policy announcement. Rates   Change Rate Policy repo rate Reduced by 25 bps 5.25% Standing deposit facility (SDF) rate 5.00% Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate 5.50% Bank rate 5.50% Monetary policy stance Monetary policy stance unchanged as ‘neutral’. Domestic Economy  Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth accelerated to 8.2% in Q2, buoyed by strong spending during the festive season which was further facilitated by the rationalisation of the goods and services tax (GST) rates.  Real GDP growth for 2025-26 is projected at 7.3%. For the first time since the adoption of flexible inflation targeting (FIT), average headline inflation for a quarter at 1.7% in Q2, breached the lower tolerance threshold (2%) of the inflation target (4%). It dipped further to an all-time low of 0.3% in October 2025. The underlying inflation pressu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Export / Import of Currency and Possession / Retention of Foreign Currency

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has updated the guidelines on export and import of currency. What are the guidelines on export and import of Indian currency? Transferor Transfer from Transfer to Nature of currency Maximum limit Person resident in India India Countries other than Nepal and Bhutan Currency notes of Government of India (GoI) and RBI notes ₹25000 per person Commemorative coins 2 coins Person resident in India gone out of India on temporary visit, on his return Countries other than Nepal and Bhutan India Currency notes of GoI and RBI notes ₹25000 per person Person resident outside India (not citizen of Pakistan / Bangladesh) visiting India India Any country Currency notes of GoI and RBI notes ₹25000 per person Any country India Person (not citizen of Pakist...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rupee Interest Rate Derivatives

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued directions on rupee interest rate derivatives. What is Interest Rate Derivative (IRD)? Interest Rate Derivative (IRD) means a financial derivative contract whose value is derived from one or more Rupee interest rates, prices of Rupee interest rate instruments, or Rupee interest rate indices. To which transactions shall the directions be applicable? The directions shall be applicable to Rupee IRD transactions undertaken in the over-the-counter (OTC) market and on recognised stock exchanges in India. Forward Contracts in Government Securities shall be undertaken in the OTC market in terms of the Reserve Bank of India (Forward Contracts in Government Securities) Directions, 2025, dated February 21, 2025. Who are eligible participants in IRD markets? Resident Non-resident, through its central treasury or its group entity, where applicable.  What are the directions on trading of IRDs on recognised stock exchanges? A recognised stock exchange is per...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are Government Securities (G-Secs)?

Governments raise / borrow funds by issuing government securities to finance a variety of projects and activities. What is Government Security (G-Sec)? Government Security (G-Sec) is a tradeable instrument issued by the Central Government or the State Governments.  G-Secs carry practically no risk of default and, hence, are called risk-free gilt-edged instruments. What are the tenures of G-Secs? G-Secs can be short-term securities (with original maturities of less than 1 year) or long-term securities (with original maturity of 1 year or more).  In India, the Central Government issues both short-term and long-term securities while the State Governments issue only long-term securities. What are the types of G-Secs? Government security Term Issued by Treasury Bills (T-bills) Short-term Central Government Cash Management Bills (CMBs) Short-term Central Government Bonds or Dated G-Secs ...
Post a Comment
Read more