FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA: POTENTIAL AND PERFORMANCE OF INDIA POST

Abstract [English]

Women empowerment is significant as it is important to assure that the gender of an individual should not stop them from being independent in their life. For the empowerment of women, financial inclusion acts as an important catalyst. It ensures the accessibility and proper usage of formal financial sources and prevents them from getting trapped by the informal sources of finance. It is only possible with financial institutions that can be able to include women from under developed areas and from different cultural background. In this context, the role of India post, as the most trusted and the most traditional organisation should be considered and given importance. However, the total number of savings accounts in India post till 2022 is only 445 million which is very less compared to the high population of the country (India Post. (2022). Annual report 2021-22. Ministry of Communications). Therefore, the study focuses on the current scenario of women in India and analyse the potential and performance of India post for the financial inclusion of women. The study is descriptive in nature and based on secondary data. From the current research, it is observed that women are vulnerable to get financially excluded because of the barriers like distant location of financial institution, complicated documentation, Lack of trust with the organisation. India post as a financial institution, has great potential to help women overcome this barrier, as it has the largest network of post offices, simple documentation, trustworthiness and women-friendly post offices. By leveraging its strengths, India post can generate high profits and the Inclusive financial empowerment of the nation.