Role of India Post in Financial Inclusion in Tamil Nadu: An Empirical Study
J. Kanthapalani & E. ThangasamyThe term financial inclusion was coined to financially strengthen all the people in formal financial sector in every part of the world. This is a very important consideration for both developing and developed countries. Thus, the ultimate objective of launching a financial inclusion program in India was to include all people in the formal financial sector in specific unbanked and rural areas. Though, many formal financial institutions in India are involved in financial inclusion programme, India post is one of the largest physical network institutions in India. Therefore, the role of India Post in financial inclusion program in a sample village, named Melaiyur under Mayiladuthurai District of Tamil Nadu was considered for this study. The descriptive research method was adopted. Data collected for the study was both qualitative as well as quantitative in nature. It was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The village was selected purposively as a study area. In this village, India post plays a vital role to provide financial services. The researcher has attempted to get a number of customers from the sample post office situated in the study area. Hence, the population of the study was treated as unknown. To determine the sample size, the unknown sample size Cochran formula was used. From the formula there are 384 customers was determined as sample respondents. The result of the study shows that, irrespective of different aspects i.e., availability, access, cost, usage and reliability of using postal financial services majority of the sample users state that the post office provides better financial services to include the rural people in formal financial sector in the study area.