A Study on The Role of Banks in Financial Inclusion in Jammu and Kashmir State

Lack of access to finance along with financial illiteracy is the main causes of financial exclusion. Financial exclusion is the main cause of poverty. Financial inclusion plays a major role in inclusive growth of the country. in the early years of the independence, country was faced the issues of illiteracy, poverty and underdevelopment because of which the government of India took some major efforts like nationalization of banks, building up of robust branch network of scheduled commercial banks, co-operatives and regional rural banks, formation of self help groups, lead bank schemes etc. The fundamental objectives of all these initiatives are to reach the large sections of the financially excluded Indian population. However, the J&K state lags behind the other states in terms of financial inclusion indicators, but from past few years the financial inclusion indicators have shown positive sign. But it is just a start and lot is yet to be achieved. The present study is an attempt to high light the various initiatives under taken by the banks to achieve the objectives of the financial inclusion in the J&K state and to briefly analyze the progress made so far.