Financial awareness: a bridge to financial inclusion

Financial inclusion, which means access to formal financial services for the whole population is India's important policy objective. In this paper, we examine the association between financial awareness and financial inclusion. Using statistical association tests on the primary data, collected from 200 respondents in Nalgonda and Medak districts in Telangana, India, we find that financial awareness is significantly associated with financial inclusion. Regression analysis shows that more financial awareness is associated with a higher level of financial inclusion. We also observe that factors, including being female and having a lower level of education and income, are related to lower financial inclusion.