An Empirical Study of Financial Inclusion In Urban Poor Of Kolkata

The urban context of the city Kolkata is incomplete without the mention of the staggering scale of urban poverty that besieges it. Kolkata has one third of its population living in slums which is only second highest share of slum population after Mumbai. The city follows the national trend of a growing income gap with over 80% of its population earning under INR 5000. Being the only commercial centre in whole of the eastern India, it attracts migrants from neighbourhood states and Bangladesh who find employment in the informal sector which is unregulated and characterized by low wages, exploitation and overall uncertainties. Further, Lack of official recognition of the informal sector which employs the urban poor ensures that they stay out of the formal financial system of the country. Urban poor unlike their rural counterparts though have physical proximity to the banks yet their financial inclusion remains challenged. This study attempts to evaluate with empirical evidence the levels of financial inclusion of the urban poor living in different regions of the city. It uses a conglomerative index created by previous study to arrive at the index of financial inclusion of an individual. It also tries to find out if the urban poor living in one region of the city fare better in their financial inclusion levels than the others.