For giving impetus to financial inclusion, government of India relaxed certain KYC norms and took initiative by allowing the use of Aadhaar Card for both as an identity proof and proof of residence to open the saving account. Hence, Aadhaar Card becomes an effective tool of financial inclusion. This effort of financial inclusion will certainly go a long way in promoting economic growth, reducing poverty and maintaining financial stability. The present study endeavors to analyze the bankers’ viewpoint towards Aadhaar Card as a tool of financial inclusion. For this study, sample size is of 300 bank employees from State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), Union Bank of India (UBI) and Haryana Gramin Bank (HGB); selecting 75 respondents each of four districts viz. Sirsa, Kaithal, Panipat and Mahendergarh. The study is based on primary as well as secondary data. Primary data is collected through a pre-tested structured questionnaire on five-point Likert Scale from bank employees of the selected banks. The secondary data is collected from the websites, RBI reports, NABARD reports, IBA Bulletin and journals. For analyzing the collected data, ANOVA has been used to test the hypotheses and validate the results of the study. It is concluded that there is no significant difference among the district-wise bankers’ viewpoint with regard to Aadhaar Card as a tool of financial inclusion by Government of India. However, a significant difference among the bank-wise respondents’ viewpoint is found in this regard. It is recommended that the Aadhaar Card-UID enabled bank account targets to be a global address for residents, similar to an email ID or a mobile phone number and will be able to eliminate the identity-related existing frauds.
Aadhaar Card, Financial Inclusion, GOI Initiatives
