The outlook for digital payments in India is promising, which bodes well for broader financial inclusion through digital channels. Significant shifts have occurred in the policy & regulatory landscape as well as public infrastructure creation to enable a push from cash to digital. These changes have resulted in the opening of hundreds of millions of new bank accounts; an open API platform that supports paperless, presenceless and cashless transactions at scale; and new cohorts of small finance & payment banks with greater agility to drive banking & finance for underserved segments. At the same time, disruptive innovation in the private sector has galvanized a fast emerging fintech sector (enabled by open APIs), deeper smartphone penetration, and precipitous reductions in data costs. While this confluence of government and industry initiatives has led to a distinct rise in non-cash payments, this increase has so far been largely confined to certain new technologies and use cases.

The study aimed to capture holistic digital ecosystem (includes Fixed store merchants, Street vendors, Home based business, Individual service providers and pure consumers) within the geographic boundaries of Jaipur. The assessment was intended on a multi-dimensional basis to cover financial inclusion with digital transaction as center. Also, it targeted to recognize weak points that could be addressed through adopting digital payment solutions.

Sponsor: Catalysts, IFMR lead, Chennai.

PRICE Research Team: Rajesh Shukla, Megha Shree, Asha Sharma, Pooja Sharma, Shailendra Dubey, Ashwini Joshi
Catalysts Research Team: Badal Malick, Vaisnavi Gnanasekaran, Sharon Buteau.