Financial Inclusion of the Tribal Community of Jharkhand- a Pilot Study

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to study the financial inclusion of the tribal community of Jharkhand in India. Since the introduction of No Frill Account (Basic Saving Bank Deposit Account) in 2005 and the launch of PMJDY in 2014, there has been a continuous growth in the number of population enrolling themselves with formal financial system in India. This national level drive has resulted in the growth of financial inclusion among the unbanked across India, and among the tribal community also. Ownership of a bank account with a formal banking system is the first and the fundamental step in financial inclusion. However, mere opening of a bank account does not serve the purpose of financial inclusion. The usage of the bank account is an imperative dimension of financial inclusion (Sarma, 2008,2010) [1]. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore the usage dimension of financial inclusion of the tribal community of Jharkhand. To study the usage dimension, different determining factors have been studied. Primary data from 55 respondents have been collected to study the usage purpose. The findings show that monthly income of the tribal community affects bank account ownership and selection of the nature of banking account. However, the same demographic factor - monthly income - has no relation with other activities of the use of bank account; e.g. purpose of Banking Services of the tribal community; Purpose of taking loan among the tribal customers; possession of ATM Card/Debit Card; confidence on banking services and mobile banking services.