Pallavi Madhok, VP, Advisory Companies – South Asia, Girls’s World Banking, and Gabriel Bizama, Researcher, College of Bern
India’s digital funds panorama has revolutionized how the nation transacts. Its Unified Funds Interface (UPI), launched in 2016 by the Nationwide Funds Company of India (NPCI), underneath the aegis of the Reserve Financial institution of India (RBI), has proven phenomenal development: in August 2025, the variety of transactions by way of UPI surpassed 20 billion. As per analysis, UPI is probably the most most well-liked transaction mode for practically 38%1 of rural and semi-urban India.
There, nevertheless, are challenges within the UPI ecosystem that should be addressed for it to serve individuals to its full potential. Whereas our “UPI for Her” analysis offers particular insights into girls’s adoption, broader analysis primarily based on quantitative and qualitative knowledge collected by a survey of 1,000 adults and retailers and focus teams in city, semi-urban, and rural areas, revealed that connectivity points and restricted digital and monetary literacy, notably amongst girls, create obstacles to trusting digital funds and reinstates the established order of money funds. With rising Central Financial institution Digital Forex (CBDC) applied sciences, India’s eRupee infrastructure has the potential to boost India’s digital cost adoption by addressing a few of these obstacles.
Girls are essential UPI prospects, however lag in digital confidence
Our “UPI for Her” initiative particularly highlights that ladies from peri-urban and rural areas do see digital funds as the long run, however both lack smartphones, confidence, or an entire ecosystem view of its advantages. This mirrors broader findings: unbiased knowledge means that whereas 10% of the pattern has a digital pockets with out holding a checking account, this charge declines amongst girls, with solely 3.9% of them reporting possession with no checking account. Even the on a regular basis use of UPI is decrease for ladies at 33%, in comparison with 41% for the general pattern.
Qualitative insights from focus teams carried out underneath our “UPI for Her” undertaking mirror these findings: girls handle money that their husbands give them or earn small cash-based incomes, which makes them cautious about safety and prevents them from exposing their cash to the vast digital monetary ecosystem. Managing funds by way of money provides them a way of management, and digital finance is overwhelming, notably as a result of they lack the boldness and know-how of digital instruments.
Why the ladies’s UPI adoption curve is steeper
Drawing from our “UPI for Her” analysis, three elements stand out: one, the shortage of digital and monetary literacy amongst girls, with many surveyed having acute problem with ideas equivalent to rates of interest and inflation; two, weak or unreliable web connectivity deters girls – 51% of the overall pattern reported connectivity challenges as a barrier; and three, safety and fraud points are essential considerations with 30% of girls in sure areas reporting this as a motive for not utilizing UPI.
Suggestions from the UPI for Her Report: Constructing for scale with gender-fair design for the eRupee
For girls to actually undertake UPI and different digital cost methods, our “UPI for Her” report offers clear suggestions. These insights are essential not just for enhancing UPI adoption but in addition for informing the strategic design of recent digital cost infrastructures just like the eRupee, making certain they deal with girls’s and different teams’ particular wants for scale. Policymakers and monetary establishments ought to deal with supporting digital funds adoption by way of community-based, phygital fashions, with these design rules in thoughts:
- Constructing belief: Girls deeply worth belief and can resonate with merchandise that embed belief and safety at their centre. Addressing safety considerations and establishing strong guardrails for shopper safety in digital funds will give customers the boldness they want in getting redressal. Making certain that such redressal is gender delicate and works alongside girls’s monetary trajectories is as essential. Constructing the eRupee infrastructure with this as a cornerstone, notably its nature as a direct legal responsibility of the central financial institution, might inherently foster better belief amongst customers, just like how money is perceived. The survey talked about earlier discovered that 61% of the pattern believed their private knowledge could be safer with the eRupee in comparison with different digital strategies, which might assist alleviate safety considerations for ladies.
- Tailoring monetary and digital literacy applications: Girls have steeper monetary studying curves. They want preliminary help in studying easy methods to execute digital transactions or perceive the digital monetary ecosystem. Nationwide monetary literacy schemes and academic applications particularly designed for teams like girls are essential. Moreover, leveraging grassroots girls’s networks equivalent to Enterprise Correspondent Sakhis or Neighborhood Useful resource Individuals in delivering this handholding is extremely efficient. These applications will likely be very important for onboarding girls onto each present platforms like UPI and newer ones like eRupee.
- Bettering connectivity and entry to digital infrastructure: Dependable cell and web connectivity is crucial for the widespread adoption of any quick cost system. As of 2024, practically 95% of India’s villages had entry to 3G/4G cell web connectivity, and the price of knowledge has notably plummeted by 96%, authorities statistics present. Broadband schemes such BharatNet and the Common Service Obligation Fund intend to boost last-mile cell web connectivity. Crucially, a key function of the eRupee that could possibly be transformative is its offline functionality: the truth that it may be used with out an web or cell community connection makes it a profitable possibility for teams which can be disproportionately impacted by connectivity challenges, particularly these dwelling in peri-urban and rural areas. This instantly addresses one of many major obstacles recognized for ladies’s digital cost adoption.
- Nudging UPI adoption by way of PPI (Pay as you go Fee Devices): For girls who could not instantly have a checking account or full digital confidence, selling using Pay as you go Fee Devices (PPIs) linked to UPI can function an efficient ramp to wider digital monetary providers equivalent to credit score, insurance coverage, or investments. It permits them to expertise digital transactions in a extra managed atmosphere, steadily constructing belief and familiarity earlier than transitioning to full UPI utilization.
Past UPI: How the eRupee can doubtlessly improve digital funds adoption in India
UPI has been transformative for India’s digital monetary panorama, and the subsequent objective publish is addressing the remaining obstacles to true monetary inclusion. The RBI is exploring CBDC’s advantages by a pilot undertaking, with six million Indian adults and retailers presently utilizing eRupee. Whereas the eRupee is strategically designed to not compete with UPI however to behave as a digital different to money, it is very important observe that eRupee is a CBDC and UPI is a bank-to-bank switch; they’re totally different platforms. Thus, eRupee can not improve UPI’s potential instantly. As an alternative, a well-designed eRupee, incorporating the above design components and specializing in its distinctive offline capabilities and central financial institution backing, can improve India’s digital cost adoption by addressing a few of these obstacles additional.
Bringing girls on board digital monetary providers and nurturing them into competent customers has immense financial potential. Girls have historically been excluded from monetary providers, and being a part of the digital monetary ecosystem creates digital trails that can assist monetary providers suppliers to find them. It might deliver them entry to inexpensive credit score extra simply and make the most of different related merchandise like insurance coverage. As monetary applied sciences quickly modernize, girls can’t be left behind. India’s digital funds infrastructure is already being noticed, and when complemented with rigorously designed future options just like the eRupee, it might provide priceless classes for monetary inclusion for populations worldwide.
