Financial literacy and its determinants among the schedule tribes: evidences from India

Purpose - Despite a lot of developments in the financial markets, financial illiteracy is a main concern across the world and is directly associated with faulty financial decisions making. The situation is very alarming among a socially or economically marginalized section of society as they cannot afford to pay finance professionals for their wealth management. The objective of the study is to understand the level of financial literacy as well as its determinants among the marginalized section of society living in hilly areas. Design/methodology/approach - The study is descriptive as well as empirical in design and based on primary data collected from the 300 scheduled tribe households of Himachal Pradesh a hilly state of India. Findings - The study observed that financial literacy is very low among the scheduled tribes living, and their level of education, income, family system and Internet accessibility have a significant impact on their financial scores. Practical implications - The outcome of the paper may be useful to design customized awareness programs, and financial products focusing on scheduled tribes living in far-flung areas so that they can get the benefits of market-driven financial products. Social implications - Financial awareness can help scheduled tribes in their financial inclusion thereby reducing poverty and inequality through informed financial decisions. Thus, the outcome if implemented can help in achieving the objective of inclusive growth. Originality/value - No specific work has been done to explore the level as well as the determinants of financial literacy among the scheduled tribe households living in hill areas. This paper will fill this gap and contributes to the existing work on financial literacy and inclusion. Peer review - The peer-review history for this article is available at:https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-01-2023-0008