The present paper is a micro econometric study, which identifies the factors that can potentially contribute to the integration of rural households to formal financial sector. The study also addresses the question: how such financial integration affects the level of household savings. The term “financial inclusiveness” is used in the paper to describe the households’ integration to formal financial sector. The paper is based on a survey conducted in four villages in the district of 24-Parganas in West Bengal, India. We construct indices for financial inclusiveness, financial literacy and access to mass-media and then investigate impact of financial literacy and access to mass media on financial inclusiveness. The econometric result shows that the financial inclusiveness depends on financial literacy whereas financial literacy, among other factors depends on the extent of use of mass media by the household. The paper also finds that the below poverty level (BPL) card holders are more financially included whereas the religious group Muslim as well as casual workers employed in both the agriculture and in the non-agricultural sector are not. Further, the study establishes that the household saving level is not affected by the ownership of formal financial instruments indicating that financial inclusiveness has not been a major driver of higher household savings.

本文是一项微观计量经济学研究，确定了可能导致农村家庭融入正规金融部门的因素。该研究还解决了一个问题：这种金融一体化如何影响家庭储蓄水平。本文使用“金融包容性”一词来描述家庭融入正规金融部门的过程。该论文基于对印度西孟加拉邦24-Parganas区的四个村庄进行的一项调查。我们构建金融包容性，金融素养和大众传媒访问的指数，然后调查金融素养和大众传媒对金融包容性的影响。计量经济学结果表明，金融包容性取决于金融素养，而金融素养，除其他因素外，还取决于家庭对大众传媒的使用程度。该论文还发现，在经济上，低于贫困线（BPL）卡的持有者更多，而在农业和非农业部门受雇的宗教团体穆斯林和临时工则没有。此外，该研究还确定，家庭储蓄水平不受正式金融工具所有权的影响，这表明金融包容性并不是增加家庭储蓄的主要驱动力。