Determinants of Financial Inclusion of Rural Agricultural Households in India

Authors

  • Sonia Antil Guest Faculty, Department of Economics & Finance, Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani - Hyderabad Campus
  • Niranjan Swain Professor, Department of Economics & Finance and Dean - Administration, Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani - Hyderabad Campus
  • Mukesh Kumar Professor, Department of Economics & Finance - College of Business Administration, University of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bahrain

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25175/jrd/2022/v41/i1/172464

Keywords:

Farmers, Financial Inclusion, Personal Finance, Logistic Regression.

Abstract

Using nationally representative survey data from 21,648 rural agricultural households, the current study investigates the financial inclusion level among distinct social groups across the major Indian States. The results show that 18.49 per cent of rural agricultural households have no access to formal institutions. Rural agriculture households are more financially included from the banks (78.37 per cent) compared to the post offices (15.39 per cent). Findings further exhibit the low level of financial inclusion and prevailing inequality for financial access among socially disadvantaged groups. Open category agricultural households show a relatively high financial inclusion level compared to socially disadvantaged groups. A logistic regression model is applied to examine the factors influencing the degree of financial inclusion of rural agricultural households, which reveals some interesting facts. The level of financial inclusion from banks and post offices increases with education level, size of landholdings, age, and households belonging to the open category, among others. Further, the chances are high for financial inclusion of men, while the presence of post office increases the probability of financial inclusion of women.

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Published

2022-03-01

How to Cite

Antil, S., Swain, N., & Kumar, M. (2022). Determinants of Financial Inclusion of Rural Agricultural Households in India. Journal of Rural Development, 41(1), 87–101. https://doi.org/10.25175/jrd/2022/v41/i1/172464

Issue

Volume 41, Issue 1, January-March 2022

Section

Articles
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