Exploring the Gender Dimension in Financial Inclusion in India: Insights from the Global Findex Database

Despite great progress in recent years in improving access to formal financial services in developing countries, there is still significant access and usage disparity between men and women. We use individual-level data from the World Bank’s Global Findex 2017 database to investigate the differences in the use of accounts by men and women who are account holders and who save and borrow money formally to provide a comprehensive picture of individuals’ financial behaviour in India. Employing treatment effects estimations through the use of propensity scores, we find that although there is improvement in saving behaviour, borrowing behaviour as well as financial resilience among men and women who save and borrow formally as compared to those who do not, women lag significantly behind men in terms of the same. Thus, expanding women’s access to economic opportunity is critical to achieving gender equality in financial inclusion and unlocking the potential for economic empowerment and development. Our findings can aid in the formulation of policies that consider the unique requirements of women in order to increase financial inclusion and close the gender gap in India.