FINANCIAL INCLUSION OF TRIBES OF KERALA – AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Abstract

In India, the vulnerable weaker section includes scheduled tribes. On many points, tribes are a marginalized group in our society. They are small in number and also weak in socio-economic aspects. Our constitution, Government authorities, and Non-Government bodies are taking several preventive and corrective measures in this regard and brought some changes in their lifestyle and economic aspects even though they are still defied with some issues. Comparatively, tribal women contribute and lead their families. But their income is limited. Financial status plays a vital part in portraying and determining individuals' lifestyles, the standard of living, and behavior. The economic situation depends upon the question of whether they are financially inserted or not. Therefore, it is imperative to check whether an individual is economically included or excluded in our society. This paper is Primary data-based and conducted a personal interview with a pre-structured schedule among tribes of Wayanad district in Kerala. This study measures the level of financial inclusion of tribes of Kerala and discusses their banking penetration, banking availability, and usage of banking service aspects. The IFI value shows an average level, and hence it is found that tribes of Kerala are in a moderate level of economic insertion only. The lack of availability of adequate bank branches is the element that dragged the IFI value to this medium level. The banking penetration dimension index is fair and reasonable because financial insertion can be viewed as parallel to having a bank account.