Retail asset ownership patterns reveal much more than just product penetration. A large allocation to assets such as gold and real estate points to a lack of reach and/or a lack of trust in financial products. A robust survey is a good place to analyze asset ownership patterns. Over the next few months, Mint Money will showcase the results of the Indian Financial Scape survey conducted by Delhi-based economics research firm Indicus Analytics to track patterns of financial asset ownership. The second in the series looks at the financial products that urban India holds. The data is broken across income groups and regional patterns. More than 35,000 households were surveyed across urban India in April-June 2012. At the end of nine weeks, the survey will provide a comprehensive picture of what drives financial asset ownership in urban India. This week the survey shows that Indians living in western India own a higher number of bank fixed deposits than households in the east and the south. It also shows that as with savings bank accounts, when income levels rise, the percentage of fixed deposits held also increases. However, the overall number of households having fixed deposit accounts remains low and crosses 50% only for the western region and that too for households having income in excess of Rs. 1 crore a year.

Key takeaways

•Percentage of households having bank fixed deposits increases as income rises. Households in the western region hold more such deposits than elsewhere.

•The average percentage of households in the country holding bank fixed deposits remains below 50%.

Also See | Bank fixed deposits out of favour with urban India (PDF)