A Comparative Study of Access to Financial Services in Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur Districts of West Bengal (India): Evidence from the Unorganized Sector.

The study attempts to look into the status of access to financial services in the unorganized sector of Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur districts of West Bengal (India). The focus is to identify any relationship and impact between the different demographic and socio-economic factors, level of financial literacy with access to financial services. Based on our sampling design,the final sample size is 800, divided equally between Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur districts with the help of a structured questionnaire. The study determines the financial literacy score and access to financial services score by using data-driven weight in factor analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis reveals Access to financial services is significantly impacted by Gender, Occupation and Financial Literacy in the Purba Medinipur district and Domicile, Income and Financial Literacy in the Paschim Medinipur district. It is seen that residents of the urban areas have greater access. Moreover, interesting point is that higher levels of financial literacy can result in raising the probability of access to financial services in both the districts. Lastly, conclude that the research discloses a significant difference between Purba Medinipur and Paschim Medinipur district on this parameter access to financial services and Purba Medinipur is the one which has an elevated score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]