The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday announced an index to measure financial inclusion in the country for the first time. The FI-Index — constructed without any base year — captures information on various aspects of financial inclusion in a single value ranging from 0 to 100 and comprises 3 broad parameters. These are “access” with a weightage of 33 per cent, “usage” with a weightage of 45 per cent and “quality” with a weightage of 20 per cent.

The RBI in a statement said that the index is responsive to the ease of access, availability and usage of services and quality of services across 97 indicators. The index incorporates the details of banking, investment, insurance, postal as well as pension sectors in consultation with the government and the respective sectoral regulators.

“A unique feature of the index is the quality parameter which captures the quality aspect of financial inclusion as reflected by financial literacy, consumer protection and inequalities and deficiencies in services,” the RBI said.

The annual FI-Index for the period ending March 2021 is 53.9 against 43.4 for the period ending March 2017. The RBI in its statement on developmental and regulatory policies in April this year had first talked about the need for having an index.