www.ijemr.net ISSN (ONLINE): 2250-0758, ISSN (PRINT): 2394-6962 37 Copyright © 2011-15. Vandana Publications. All Rights Reserved. Volume-5, Issue-1, February-2015 International Journal of Engineering and Management Research Page Number: 37-44 A Study on Banking Penetration in Financial Inclusion “With Special Reference to Tamilnadu” Miss Caroline Priyanka Koorse 1 , Dr. S.Kavitha 2 1 Department of Commerce, INDIA 2 Department of Management, INDIA ABSTRACT Today the term ‘bottom of the pyramid’ refers to the global poor most of whom live in the developing countries. These large numbers of poor are required to be provided with much needed financial assistance in order to sail them out of their conditions of poverty. Accordingly, there is felt a need for policy support in channeling the financial resources towards the economic upliftment of poor in any developing economy. Financial Inclusion is considered to be the core objective of many developing nations since from last decade as many research findings correlate the direct link between the financial exclusion and the poverty prevailing in developing nations. Financial inclusion is an attempt to provide financial access and services to weaker sections and low income groups, thus eliminating poverty. An inclusive financial sector development makes two complementary contributions to poverty alleviation: financial sector development is a driver of economic growth which indirectly reduces poverty and inequality and appropriate, affordable, financial services for poor people can improve their welfare. The study conducted is to identify how financial inclusion has had an impact on the state of Tamilnadu and how financial inclusion has helped indirectly in the improvement of financial literacy and reduction of poverty. The study conducted will bring forth the improvement in the state of Tamilnadu after the implementation of financial inclusion in terms of financial literacy, reduction of poverty and how the banking sector alone has managed to engulf a vast part of the state into the fold of financial inclusion. Keywords--- Bottom of pyramid, financial assistance, poverty, economic upliftment, financial inclusion, financial literacy. I. INTRODUCTION “The stark reality today is that most poor people in the world still lack access to sustainable financial services, whether it is saving, credit or insurance. The great challenge before us is to address the constraints that exclude people from full participation in the financial sector. Together, we can and we must build inclusive financial sectors that help people improve their lives” Former UN secretary –Kofi Annan Normally the weaker sections of the society are completely ignored by the formal financial institutions in the race of making chunks of profits or the complexities involved in providing finance to the weaker section. Financial inclusion or inclusive financing is the delivery of financial services, at affordable costs, to sections of disadvantaged and low income segments of society. II. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES • To identify the trend of banking penetration in financial inclusion at Tamil Nadu. • To study the growth rate of financial inclusion in Tamil Nadu. III. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 1) An empirical study of Sendhilvelan.M and Karthikeyan .K(2006)in their research paper “No Frills Account: A Basic Drive for Financial Inclusion”, revealed that financial inclusion of all segments of the population, in both rural and urban areas banks should give wide