Introduction

Introduction Low propensity to save and invest has constrained capital formation, which in turn has affected the growth process of least developing countries and developing nations. The question of poverty has received greater attention in recent literature than the question of removal of poverty, with the United Nations’ target of halving the poverty by 2015 as an agenda of Millennium Development Goals. The urgency of pro-poor growth has been felt in the current Five-Year Plan as an alternative formula for economic inclusion of vulnerable sections, which in turn has been expected to accelerate the growth process. Economists have identified that growth process to certain extent is endogenous to financial development. Availability of finance is no doubt the essence of an efficient economic system and lack of the same could grind down the very objective of inclusive growth. The delivery of financial services at affordable cost to vast sections of disadvantaged and low-income groups of the society has become the exhortation in the financial circles in recent years. * Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Sikkim Central University, 6th Mile, Tadong, Gangtok 737102, Sikkim, India; and is the corresponding author. E-mail: tikenhyd@gmail.com ** Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Sikkim Central University, 6th Mile, Tadong, Gangtok 737102, Sikkim, India. Email: pguha@cus.ac.in A© S2t0u1d5y IoUnP .t hAell DRiigffhetrse nRceesse rinve tdh.e Banking Parameters Between Pre- and 39 Post-Financial Inclusion Periods: Some Evidence for India There has been a paradigm shift in the Indian financial sector during the past five decades with the transformation from class banking to mass banking (1969), coverage expansion through introduction of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and lead bank scheme, financial sector reforms (1991), and transformation of banking structure from traditional brick-and-mortar branches to mechanized banking through technological upgradation. Despite all such financial sector progress, inability to provide basic banking services to the unprivileged sections has been an unproved assertion in recent years. The Government of India (GOI), Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) have jointly taken initiatives in this direction from 2005 onwards aiming at enrolling the unreached sections through banking services and facilities. Though India with around 60,000 bank branches has the fourth largest banking infrastructure in the world, 94% of its 6,00,000 odd villages still do not have a single branch (Menon, 2007). As on March 2013, total number of bank branches in India is 1,02,343. However, interestingly, as per census 2011, only 58.7% of the households are availing banking services in the country. A look at the global financial development picture shows that India is lagging behind the OECD countries in various respects. During 2008, Indian banks per 1 lakh population were 6.6 as against 10-69 of OECD nations; deposit accounts per 1,000 people were 467.4 as against 976-1,671 of OECD nations; loan accounts per 1,000 people were 89.03 compared to 248- 513 of OECD nations; and there were only 3.28 ATMs per one lakh people in India as against 47-167 of OECD nations till 2008. About 51.