The latest comparable World Bank survey found that 78% of Indian adults had an account in 2021—not over 80%. But account ownership did not mean regular use: 35% of accounts were inactive under the survey’s definition, while 35% of adults said they used an account to make or receive a digital payment.
Those figures answer different questions, and they describe 2021 rather than present-day behavior. Here is what each measure counts and what it reveals about financial inclusion in India.
What do the figures say about bank-account use in India?
The World Bank’s Global Findex 2021, reported in its 2023 India country brief, found that 78% of Indian adults had an account. In the same survey, 35% of adults—equivalent to 45% of account holders—said they used an account to make or receive a digital payment in 2021. The brief also reported that 35% of accounts were inactive under its definition.
These are not interchangeable percentages. The first measures adults with an account; the second measures digital-payment use, with both an all-adult and an account-holder denominator; the third measures accounts classified as inactive. Digital payments are one concrete indicator of use, not a count of every possible account transaction. World Bank Group, Global Findex 2021: India Country Brief
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What does “inactive account” mean in the survey?
Global Findex counted an account as inactive if it had no deposit, withdrawal, incoming digital payment, or outgoing digital payment in the preceding 12 months. The World Bank applied this updated definition across years; comparisons with older inactivity figures should take that change into account. World Bank, The Global Findex Database 2021
This is a survey measure, not the Reserve Bank of India’s regulatory classification of an “inoperative account.” The RBI uses a separate framework for that category, so the terms should not be treated as synonyms. RBI, Inoperative Accounts / Unclaimed Deposits
Who was less likely to use accounts?
The national averages conceal differences by gender and location. The World Bank’s 2021 survey reported the following:
| Group | Measure | 2021 result |
| Women account owners | Accounts inactive | 42% |
| Men account owners | Accounts inactive | 30% |
| Women | Less likely than men to make or receive digital payments | 13 percentage points |
| Urban adults | Used an account for digital payments; share of urban account holders in parentheses | 40% (52%) |
| Rural adults | Used an account for digital payments; share of rural account holders in parentheses | 30% (39%) |
The inactivity figures are percentages of account owners; the urban and rural figures report digital-payment use among all adults in each group, with account-holder shares shown separately in parentheses. World Bank Group, Global Findex 2021: India Country Brief
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What reasons did respondents give for not using accounts?
Among people with inactive accounts, respondents commonly cited distance, lack of trust, or having no need for an account. Some also reported insufficient money or discomfort using an account alone. These are reasons respondents gave in the survey; they should not be read as proof that any one factor caused inactivity. World Bank, The Global Findex Database 2021
Does the RBI’s financial-inclusion index show how many people use accounts?
No. The RBI’s Financial Inclusion Index is a composite measure of access, usage, and quality, scored from 0 to 100. The RBI reported an index value of 64.2 in March 2024, up from 60.1 in March 2023. These are index scores, not percentages of adults with accounts or a direct update to Global Findex’s inactivity and digital-payment measures. Reserve Bank of India, Annual Report 2024-25
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How current are these numbers?
The account-ownership, inactivity, and digital-payment figures above come from the 2021 Global Findex survey, published in the India country brief in 2023. They do not measure behavior in 2026. The later RBI index provides a broader measure of inclusion, but it does not establish a newer comparable national rate for inactive accounts or account-based digital payments.
The World Bank Microdata Library catalogs the India Global Findex 2021 survey and its variables for readers who want to examine the underlying dataset. World Bank Microdata Library, India – Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) Database 2021
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