2019
Digital Financial Inclusion Journey Mapping - India
Services
User Research, Journey Mapping, Stakeholder Engagement, Ecosystem Analysis, Financial Inclusion Strategy, Digital Payments Research, Value Chain Analysis, Gender-Focused Design, Community Engagement, Impact Assessment
Client
Team
USAID mSTAR Project Team, FHI 360, IFMR-LEAD, Intellecap, Local Community Partners, Financial Sector Stakeholders, Government Representatives
Mapping India's Digital Financial Inclusion Journey and Driving Last-Mile Adoption
Ecosystem Mapping
Community Engagement
Value Chain Analysis
Gender-Inclusive Design
Evidence-Based Recommendations
Overview
Between 2014 and 2018, India embarked on one of the world's most ambitious financial inclusion initiatives, bringing over 330 million people into the formal financial sector. As part of USAID's commitment to support India's digital financial inclusion agenda, I contributed to comprehensive research examining how digital payments could catalyze meaningful financial inclusion for underserved populations across urban and rural India. This project combined macro-level ecosystem mapping with micro-level field research in Jaipur, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand to understand the drivers and barriers of digital payment adoption among merchants and consumers, particularly focusing on women, rural communities, and low-income populations.
CONTEXT & CHALLENGE
Understanding the Gap Between Access and Usage
India has seen unprecedented growth in bank account ownership through the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). However, access did not translate into active use, 48% of account holders made no deposits or withdrawals, revealing a critical gap between financial inclusion on paper and meaningful engagement in practice. The core challenge was not account penetration, but driving sustained usage of digital financial services. The research set out to understand why digital payments were not scaling at the same pace as bank accounts, what would motivate merchants and customers to shift from cash to digital, and how digital payments could function as an effective on-ramp to deeper financial inclusion, rather than a standalone intervention. To address these questions, the work focused on two distinct but interconnected environments. In urban Jaipur, the CATALYST program tested ecosystem-level approaches with 7,500 individuals and 1,000 merchants, examining adoption dynamics across consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and service providers. In parallel, rural interventions applied value chain–based approaches in dairy (Odisha), food and beverage (Maharashtra), and poultry (Jharkhand), exploring how digital payments could be embedded into everyday economic activity across agricultural and informal markets. Together, these contexts allowed the team to examine both system-level constraints and ground-level behaviors, bridging policy ambition with lived financial realities.
INSIGHTS
Five Critical Learnings About Digital Payments and Financial Inclusion
Despite rapid technological advancement, the program demonstrated that human interaction remains critical at the last mile. Building trust and capability among first-time digital finance users required intensive, hands-on support. For example, onboarding just 101 new account holders required five field staff working for approximately 30 days, highlighting that scaling technology does not eliminate the need for human facilitation. Adoption of digital finance was also closely linked to aspiration and identity. For many users, particularly younger participants, using digital payments symbolized belonging to “Digital Bharat” and aligning with a modern, forward-looking vision of India. Digital finance was not only a functional tool but a marker of social and economic progress. The work further revealed that product design is a major, yet often underestimated, barrier to inclusion. Most digital finance applications were built for urban, affluent, English-speaking users, unintentionally excluding large segments of the population. Products were frequently data-intensive, overly complex, and lacked meaningful multi-language or low-literacy support. At the same time, cash remained highly resilient. Strong status quo bias persisted, with 55% of non-adopting merchants citing lack of customer demand as the primary reason for not accepting digital payments. For many users, cash continued to represent security, trust, liquidity, and simplicity, values that digital alternatives had not yet fully replaced. Finally, the program challenged the assumption that digital payments automatically lead to financial inclusion. Digitizing merchant transactions alone did not result in poverty reduction or deeper financial resilience unless accompanied by broader ecosystem interventions, including financial literacy, relevant product design, trust-building, and supportive policy frameworks.
APPROACH
A Multi-Layered Research and Implementation Strategy
The work combined urban experimentation, rural value chain pilots, and macro-level ecosystem analysis to understand and unlock scalable pathways for inclusive digital payments adoption. Within the Urban CATALYST Program in Jaipur, along with my team, we conducted a comprehensive mapping of the digital payments ecosystem, identifying key stakeholders, infrastructure gaps, and high-potential opportunity areas. This was complemented by deep ethnographic research in low-income neighborhoods such as Bhatta Basti, providing insight into everyday financial behaviors and trust dynamics. The program partnered with five fintech incubators to pilot and refine last-mile payment solutions, while simultaneously digitizing pharmaceutical and dairy supply chains to embed digital payments into routine commercial activity. Over a 20-month period, we provided intensive, hands-on merchant support, including onboarding, training, and troubleshooting, to ensure sustained adoption rather than short-term uptake. In parallel, rural value chain pilots focused on sectors with high female participation, including dairy, food and beverage, and poultry. We worked directly with stakeholders like farmers, merchants, and aggregators to digitize B2B transactions and integrate digital payments into existing trading relationships. These pilots examined gender dynamics and financial empowerment outcomes while testing adoption patterns across different farmer profiles, from subsistence-based producers to more aspirational, growth-oriented actors. At the macro ecosystem level, the work included extensive stakeholder interviews with senior government officials, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) representatives, fintech leaders, and development-sector experts. This qualitative insight was combined with analysis of national-level data on UPI growth, payment bank performance, and account dormancy. The team also mapped the broader policy landscape, including Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar, Direct Benefit Transfers, and the long-term impacts of demonetization, to understand how regulation, infrastructure, and policy incentives shaped adoption on the ground.
IMPACT
Research-Driven Recommendations Shaping India's Digital Finance Future
The research culminated in a comprehensive Journey Map Report, published by USAID/mSTAR, which has since informed policy dialogue and private-sector strategy across India’s digital financial services ecosystem. The work provided a rare, end-to-end view of how digital finance evolved between 2014 and 2018, linking national policy ambitions with lived user experiences on the ground. Key Deliverables included a 54-page Journey Map Report documenting India’s digital financial services journey, alongside evidence-based recommendations tailored for the Government of India, private-sector actors, and development partners. Additional outputs comprised technical reports on fintech incubator programs, supply chain digitization, and gender dynamics, as well as learning notes capturing insights on merchant behavior, credit linkages, and mechanisms for driving sustained behavior change. The work translated into clear strategic recommendations across stakeholder groups. For the government, recommendations focused on clarifying Aadhaar-related regulations, embedding a stronger gender lens into the continuation of PMJDY, and investing in shared digital infrastructure to reduce fragmentation. For the private sector, the research emphasized the need to simplify application design and user experience, innovate around relevant savings products, and develop targeted strategies for engaging youth and first-time digital users. For the development sector, guidance centered on supporting inclusive business models through patient capital and strengthening the evidence base on how digital financial services contribute to poverty reduction and economic resilience. Overall, the research demonstrated that meaningful financial inclusion requires a shift from access to active usage. Digital payments alone are not sufficient; they must be embedded within broader, human-centered ecosystems that respond to diverse user needs, literacy levels, trust dynamics, and aspirations in order to deliver lasting inclusion and impact.
330M+
PEOPLE BROUGHT INTO FORMAL FINANCIAL SECTOR
Opened bank accounts between 2014-2017
7,500
INDIVIDUALS CONVERTED TO DIGITAL PAYMENT USERS
Closing the gap between rich and poor from 16% to just 5%.
80%
WOMEN BECAME COMFORTABLE WITH MOBILE BANKING
Providing advisory services and training increased women's comfort with mobile banking from 46% to 78%.
78%
INCREASE IN DAIRY INCOME POST-DIGITIZATION
Income increases after digitization of value chain payments.
// Pictures From Digital Financial Inclusion Journey Mapping Report //
Reflection
This work reinforced a critical insight: technology alone does not drive inclusion. Sustainable impact emerges at the intersection of context, culture, trust, and human-centered design. Working across both urban and rural India highlighted the importance of designing for complexity rather than assuming uniform solutions. One of the clearest learnings was that one size never fits all. The realities, incentives, and constraints faced by urban merchants in Jaipur differed fundamentally from those of rural dairy farmers in Odisha, requiring distinct approaches to adoption, onboarding, and value creation. The research also underscored that gender and financial inclusion are deeply intersectional. Women’s access to and use of digital finance was shaped not only by gender, but by household power dynamics, social networks, literacy levels, and access to technology, making simplistic “women-focused” solutions insufficient. Another key insight was the role of aspiration. Adoption of digital financial services was driven as much by identity and belonging as by functional utility. For many users, engaging with digital finance represented participation in a broader vision of a modern, forward-looking India. Finally, the experience emphasized that evidence must guide investment decisions. For the development sector in particular, rigorous research linking digital financial services to measurable poverty reduction and resilience outcomes is essential to justify scale, funding, and policy prioritization. Collectively, this experience shaped my approach to designing and leading work in complex, multi-stakeholder systems, where behavioral change, infrastructure, product design, and policy frameworks must align to create inclusive, scalable, and sustainable impact.
more projects
