New Delhi, Dec. 10 -- The country has achieved significant progress in financial inclusion, with 99.91 percent of villages now having access to banking outlets, including bank branches, business correspondents (BCs), and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) within a 5-kilometre radius, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, informed the Lok Sabha.

Monitoring Banking Access

The availability of banking outlets is tracked through the Jan Dhan Darshak (JDD) app, a GIS-based platform that collects data from banks to ensure coverage across the country.

While data on the total population without bank accounts is not centrally maintained, efforts to expand banking access in uncovered areas are ongoing under the guidance of State and Union...