India’s journey toward financial inclusion has been transformative. As per the latest report from the World Bank, last year, 89 per cent of Indians aged more than 15 now own a bank account, up from just 35 per cent in 2011. This 54 percentage-point jump is one of the steepest globally and reflects the impact of reforms like the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, simplified KYC norms, and last-mile banking connectivity.

But even though access to accounts is nearly universal, meaningful usage still lags. Roughly 14 per cent of adults in India do not actively use their accounts, significantly higher than the four per cent average across other low- and middle-income countries. In fact, taking India out of the average brings it down to just three per cent. Access alone doesn’t guarantee empowerment.

Interestingly, India’s most common reason for financial exclusion bucks the global trend. In most low- and middle-income economies, the leading barrier is a lack of money. In India, however, the top reason given by unbanked adults is that a family member already has an account. Even so, not having enough money, the cost of financial services, and distance to financial institutions are frequently cited by about half of the unbanked population.

Gender parity has improved steadily regarding account ownership, and mobile phone ownership, a critical enabler of digital finance, is higher among men (77 per cent) than women (54 per cent) in India. About one in five women (22 per cent) and one in four men (25 per cent) use basic phones, while a notable share of women still do not own any phone, highlighting a persistent gender gap in digital access.

Between 2021 and 2024, more men than women own active accounts, though the gender gap in ownership of active accounts as a percentage of account owners fell from 12 percentage points in 2021 to seven in 2024. As per the World Bank, this may be due to the large increase in women receiving government-to-person payments digitally over the same period.

Between 2021 and 2024, the share of inactive accounts among both men and women declined, and the gender gap in active account usage also shrank.

Globally, account ownership has grown from 51 per cent in 2011 to 79 per cent in 2024, with India’s figure at 89 per cent. Yet, India and China also house one of the largest absolute numbers of unbanked adults due to their sheer population size. In fact, 53 per cent of the world’s unbanked adults, or 650 million people, live in just eight countries, including India, China, Bangladesh, etc.

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