91 accessibility errors on finance website homepages: Report

A report on digital accessibility, launched at the third edition of ‘Inclusive India: Digital First’ held in the city on Friday, has found that the homepages of Indian finance websites have 91.55 accessibility errors on average.

The report, titled ‘Digital Accessibility Landscape of the Finance Sector in India’, was prepared by BarrierBreak and the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP).

The report has found that the insurance sector has the highest number of errors, with an average of 120.73 errors per homepage, while the Indian portals of international banks showed better performance, with an average of 33.4 errors per
homepage.

It also showed that nearly 97 per cent of the 100 surveyed sites missed crucial features for disabled users.

“Despite India’s 63.28 million people with disabilities, as reported by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019-21), only a small portion of technological solutions are fully accessible,” BarrierBreak said in a statement. 

Founder and CEO of BarrierBreak Shilpi Kapoor said that BarrierBreak, along with their partner NCPEDP, aims to send this report to all of the C-level executives of these organizations.

“They should understand the impact they can have and the opportunity that is lost from a customer-based perspective. It is important to bring RBI on board with this as a regulator,” Kapoor told DH.

Keeping in mind the Supreme Court ruling that accessibility is a fundamental right, Kapoor said, “We are going to take this to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Secretary and to get their help in talking to all of these organizations and pushing the conversation.”

Kapoor pointed out that accessibility is yet not on the priority list of technology officers.

“It’s not a compliance requirement. Accessibility is not built into their processes. One of the ways we can bring this issue to the forefront is by creating awareness, providing education and helping these organizations move the needle forward,” she added.