The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced the composite Financial Inclusion Index (FI-Index) in August 2021 to comprehensively measure the extent of financial inclusion across the country. The index incorporates data from the banking, investments, insurance, postal, and pension sectors. The FI-Index is constructed using three broad parameters (sub-indices) with distinct weightages:
1. Access (35% weightage): Measures the supply-side availability of financial services, including physical and digital infrastructure like bank branches, ATMs, and PoS terminals.
2. Usage (45% weightage): Reflects the demand side and actual utilization of financial services, such as savings, investments, digital transactions (e.g., UPI), insurance, and credit.
3. Quality (20% weightage): Captures the qualitative aspects of financial inclusion, including financial literacy, consumer protection, and inequalities or deficiencies in services. Option A is Incorrect: While credit, insurance, and pension are sectors covered under the index, they are not the broad sub-indices used to structure the FI-Index. Option B is Incorrect: GDP contribution is not a parameter for measuring financial inclusion. Financial literacy is a component under the Quality sub-index, not a standalone sub-index. Option C is Correct: Access, Usage, and Quality are the exact three sub-indices of the FI-Index. Option D is Incorrect: Affordability and Transparency are not the designated sub-indices, though they may conceptually relate to the Quality parameter. Therefore, Option C is the correct answer.