Women in Digital Payments: Overcoming Barriers and Unlocking Potential

At the Global Fintech Festival 2024, NPCI's Nalin Bansal highlighted the gender disparity in digital payments, with only 25% of users being women and even fewer in rural areas. Emphasizing the need for personalized services and trust-building, he advocated for inclusive initiatives to advance women's participation in digital financial services.

Speaking at the Global Fintech Festival 2024, Nalin Bansal, Chief Relationship Management at the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), revealed a concerning statistic: only 25% of payment users are women, with even lower penetration in semi-urban and rural areas. Bansal underscored, "While we've achieved significant scale in financial inclusion, penetration remains a challenge, with only 25% of payment users being women, and even fewer in semi-urban and rural areas. Many women's mobile numbers are not linked to their bank accounts, hindering their participation."

He highlighted the benefits of engaging women in digital payments, noting, "Data shows women are 50% less prone to fraud and are highly loyal and engaged users. As an ecosystem, we must prioritize personalized, assisted services and continuous engagement across all channels. UPI123 has made strides, especially for initiatives like Ujjwala, and prepaid instruments hold promise as a 'secret purse' for women. Building trust is crucial, and it is our collective responsibility to foster it." Educating women through local agents or community influencers, especially female ones, is essential to overcoming social and technological barriers.

Bansal also pointed out that women who make at least five transactions in the first week of onboarding are twice as likely to continue using UPI, emphasizing the need for financial service providers to rethink in-app nudges and sales metrics to encourage consistent usage. According to a survey, 93% of women expressed the need for ongoing support during the first three months of using digital payments, particularly for grievance redressal during failed transactions.

Kalpana Ajayan, Regional Head - South Asia at Women's World Banking, added, "We recognize that digital payments can serve as a powerful tool for women, enabling them to manage their finances more effectively, access a broader range of services, and ultimately secure a better future for themselves and their families." She continued, "By addressing the specific barriers that women face in adopting digital payments, we open up a new frontier for growth. This initiative is about much more than inclusion--it's about positioning women as key drivers in the digital financial ecosystem."

The NPCI's UPI platform has revolutionized India's payment landscape. UPI transactions soared from Rs 920 million (USD 11.08 million) in FY 2017-18 to Rs 83750 million (USD 1.01 billion) in FY 2022-23, reflecting a staggering CAGR of 147%. The value of UPI transactions reached INR 80.79 trillion (USD 96,287) across approximately 55.66 billion transactions in the first four months of FY 2024-25. Of the 536 million women aged 15 years and older in India, 37% report using mobile internet, making the addressable market for UPI solutions among women around 200 million strong.

(With inputs from agencies.)