India has seen an appreciable rise in energy consumption especially in the recent past, driven by rapid economic growth, urbanization, and increased access to electricity across the population. Identifying the factors which influence energy consumption holds an immense importance. To this end current study attempts to examine the impact of financial inclusion on energy consumption in India. For this purpose study uses annual time series data for the period of 1991–2022. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model has been used to estimate the impact. The results of the study revealed that financial inclusion increased energy consumption per cepita in short run while in long run the impact is insignificant. Similarly control variables including GDP per cepita, population growth and openness have positive impact on energy consumption both in the short run as well as long run. The results highlight the importance of these underlying macroeconomic variables to adjust environmentally sustainable levels of energy consumption while maintaining the balance between growth and environment.