WB’s Global Findex Report 2025: India Records 89% Financial Account Ownership in 2024 but Faces 16% Inactivity.

In July 2025, the World Bank (WB) released the 5th edition of its Global Findex Database report titled "Connectivity and Financial Inclusion in the Digital Economy". The report reveals that India’s financial account ownership has reached 89% in 2024, showing significant growth since 2011. However, the country also faces a high inactivity rate, with 16% of account holders not using their accounts in the past 12 months.

      - According to the Global Findex 2025 report, financial account ownership in India rose from 77.5% in 2021 to 89% in 2024. This marks a significant increase from just 35% in 2011, reflecting the success of government-led digital and financial inclusion schemes such as Jan Dhan Yojana and Aadhaar-enabled payments.

      - Despite the high ownership rate, the report highlights that 35% of Indian bank accounts were inactive in 2021, and even in 2024, 16% of accounts remained inactive—far higher than the global average of 6%. Inactivity is defined as the non-use of accounts in the past 12 months, signaling a gap between access and usage.

      - Of the 89% financial account holders in India, 88.7% were reported to have a bank/financial institution account or mobile money account. However, only 48.5% of Indian adults used their accounts for digital transactions in the past year. The gender gap continues to persist, despite a steady increase in women’s account ownership globally, with 700 million women still unbanked worldwide.

Main Point :-   (i) The global financial account ownership stood at 79% in 2024, up by 28 percentage points from 51% in 2011. In low- and middle-income countries, ownership increased from 42% in 2011 to 75% in 2024. Meanwhile, in high-income countries, it surged from 87% in 2011 to 95% in 2024, showing stronger usage and lower inactivity levels.

      (ii) As of 2024, 1.3 billion adults globally remain unbanked, mostly from developing economies. The World Bank emphasized that financial access alone is insufficient unless paired with regular usage, digital empowerment, and financial literacy—an area where countries like India still need focused interventions.

(iii) India’s strides in digital banking, including the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), PMJDY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana), and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes, have been praised globally. However, the World Bank recommends that India now focus on improving account usage rates, targeting inactive users through financial education and expanding digital service penetration.
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