Journal of FinTech and Sustainable Finance

Articles

Vol. 1 (2025)

Exploring Banking Patterns and Service Accessibility Among Tribal Households: An Empirical Investigation

Submitted
October 2, 2025
Published
2025-10-02

Abstract

The study assesses the factors influencing the banking habits and service accessibility of tribal community people. The study is confined to the Odisha province of India. ANOVA and explorative factor analysis followed by linear regression have been applied for the impact assessment. The study analysed the responses from 274 tribal households. It is found that factors like employee cooperation, convenience location, and service banking have a significant impact on tribal community households, but banking habit has no such impact. Additionally, it implies that other aspects of financial accessibility should be investigated, from having a bank account to fully utilizing contemporary financial tools. The research findings on the banking structure and service access patterns of tribal Households in Odisha, India, have several implications for policymakers and financial service providers. First, identifying the population's banking usage pattern would enable the customization of service provision to meet their needs. More accessible and individualized services would contribute to unprecedented economic empowerment of tribal communities through financial inclusiveness. Second, identifying barriers to banking services can help design and implement targeted initiatives to bring a more significant number of tribal people into the fold of the formal financial system. These findings would contribute to more effective ways of educating and mainstreaming tribal people, facilitating their socio-economic development.

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