With a single currency, there is no dodging intensified competition in Europe. Transparency is higher and will take another leap once the euro is legal tender and all over the euro area prices are quoted in the home currency of more than 300 million people. The rapid proliferation and application of new information technology will reinforce transparency. Effects are already visible.
The wide extent of financial exclusion in India is visible in the form of high population per bank branch and low proportion of the population having access to basic financial services like savings accounts, credit facilities, credit and debit cards. The following table summarises India’s performance in the area of financial inclusion as compared with other developing as well as developed countries (Table 1).