Gender Gap in case of Financial Inclusion: An Empirical Analysis in Indian Context

Abstract

The existence of gender gap in financial inclusion has come into prominence in recent times. In this context, using global Findex household-level database for the year 2017 our study aims to evaluate the presence of gender gap in financial inclusion for India. The empirical findings suggest that women are significantly less likely to be financially included as compared to their male counterparts. Using Fairlie Decomposition technique, this paper also finds the statistical evidence which reveals that gender differences in socio economic variables largely explain the gender gap in financial inclusion. More precisely, it is observed that lower employment status within females is a crucial reason of not having formal account, formal saving and formal credit requirement. However, lower education among females predominantly prohibits them from using digital financial services.