Financial inclusion: A long way to go

The All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey by Nabard shows while rural India is no longer predominantly agricultural, access to financial services remains weak

Nabard has recently released the results of the All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey. The survey, which was for 2016-17, covered 40,327 rural households. The survey defined agricultural households as those where at least one member was self-employed in agriculture in the past year, and which derived at least Rs 5,000 from agricultural produce. It found that the average annual income of an agricultural household was Rs 107,172 versus Rs 87,228 for non-agricultural households. An analysis of the findings throws up several insights about rural India. 

Rural India is no longer predominantly agricultural: Only about 48 per cent of all