Rapid growth in demand for financial services in recent years in India has reflected rising incomes and increasing urbanisation of the population. According to the World Bank's database on financial inclusion, 35% of adults over the age of 15 in India held deposit accounts at formal financial institutions. This figure will rise in the forecast period. As incomes continue to rise, lending levels should grow further in the long term, along with demand for insurance and asset-management services.
Demand will also be boosted by a government scheme to increase access to banking services for the country's unbanked-about two-fifths of households. India's fast-growing programme to create a unique identity for every Indian in a biometric database will allow many to gain access to formal banking.
The Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts that bank lending (in local-currency terms) will increase by an average of 17.6% a year in 2014-18, representing a deceleration from average annual growth of 18.2% over the previous five years. Bank deposits will rise by an average of 16.6% a year in the forecast period, slightly above the annual estimated rate of 16.0% on average in 2009-13. These figures are not adjusted for annual inflation, which averaged 9.9% in 2009-13 and is forecast to average 7.0% in 2014-18.

Financial services report 2

Banks 3

Insurers 6

Asset managers 8

Financial markets and instruments 9

Financial regulation 12

Monetary and currency policy 14

India at a glance 16

Fundamental indicators 17

Key contacts 18

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