Financial inclusion involves providing suitable products and services to meet transactional, payment, savings, credit, and insurance needs. While India has progressed in financial inclusion, challenges persist in low-income regions and among marginalised groups. This study assesses the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion (NSFI) 2019–2024 and its potential to address such challenges in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states. Field inquiries and interviews with households and bank managers were conducted. The findings reveal that despite NSFI’s potential, unawareness, insufficient income, documentation requirements, and lack of trust in the system is persisting and factors such as- region, social groups, gender, age, education, and occupation continue to influence banking participation. So, the study recommends increased awareness, financial literacy, and reduced financial service costs tailored to Bihar’s needs and other low-income regions. In addition, strengthening the regulatory framework for informal financial services is suggested.

普惠金融涉及提供合适的产品和服务，以满足交易、支付、储蓄、信贷和保险需求。尽管印度在金融包容性方面取得了进展，但低收入地区和边缘化群体仍然面临挑战。本研究评估了 2019-2024 年国家金融包容性战略 (NSFI) 及其解决印度最贫困邦之一比哈尔邦此类挑战的潜力。对住户和银行经理进行了实地调查和访谈。调查结果显示，尽管 NSFI 潜力巨大，但认识不足、收入不足、文件要求和对该系统缺乏信任的情况仍然存在，地区、社会群体、性别、年龄、教育和职业等因素继续影响银行参与。因此，研究建议提高认识，金融知识，并根据比哈尔邦和其他低收入地区的需求降低金融服务成本。此外，建议加强非正规金融服务的监管框架。