FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN KARNATAKA

Financial inclusion and inclusive growth are critical ideas that have attracted attention of research in recent times. Inclusive growth empowers people from marginalized groups. In turn, this dependent on a number of factors, the most important being financial inclusion, which plays a critical role in supporting inclusive growth and poverty reduction by providing regular and reliable sources of money to the vulnerable sections. In this direction, the Government of India in its drive for financial inclusion has taken several measures to increase the access to and availing of formal financial services by unbanked households. The goal of this report is to evaluate the nature and degree of financial inclusion as well as its impact on the socioeconomic condition of vulnerable households, with an emphasis on inclusive growth. This was investigated using theoretical background on financial access and economic growth, as well as primary data acquired from Karnatakas Revenue Divisions.The results reveal that the nature and scope of financial inclusion are different. Access to, and usage of, the formal banking services open the way to positive and associated changes in socio-economic status for vulnerable households, leading to an inclusive growth, on which paper provides a model for increasing the inclusiveness and pro-poorness of the financial system.