Assessing the Impact of Financial Inclusion Efficiency on the Sustainable Development Goals

This research paper's main goal is to examine how India's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are impacted by financial inclusion efficiency (FIE). These effects are assessed by the study using a single model. To determine how effectively financial inclusion is working, the Data Envelopment Approach (DEA) is used as the methodology. The deployment of automated teller machines (ATMs) and the number of commercial banks with functioning offices in each state serve as the inputs and outputs of this approach, respectively, while the state-level deposits and bank credit offered by scheduled commercial banks are the inputs. Efficiency is computed by dividing the inputs by the outputs for each state. The dataset used in this paper contains information about the 28 states and three union territories of India from 2018 to 2020. The study results show a negative relationship between FIE and SDG. The study differentiates itself from the previous studies in that it is being done on a Pan-Indian basis, not restricted to certain states or states. Unlike the earlier studies, the paper's current findings suggest a need for rechecking the fact that fie initiatives negatively impact SDG.