Financial inclusion and linguistic diversity

ABSTRACT

The study analyses the relevance of linguistic diversity on financial inclusion in India. The findings show that linguistic polarization leads to a significant decline in bank account ownership and its use. In case of the latter, the impact is much higher on savings than borrowings.

KEYWORDS:

• Language
• financial inclusion
• banking
• India

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• G21
• G28

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Qatar Central Bank, Doha, Qatar. Mail: [emailsaibal@ gmail.com]. I would like to thank two anonymous referees for the incisive comments on an earlier draft, which helped to improve the analysis. The views expressed and the approach pursued in the paper are strictly personal.

² The linguistic composition of the population is typically a slow-moving variable and less likely to change substantially within a couple of years.