India's Digital Public Infrastructure Boosts Financial Inclusion

India's digital public infrastructure, like UPI and PMJDY, is helping more people access banking and credit.

UPI is very popular, with billions of transactions every month, but a feature called credit line on UPI is not being used much.

This feature allows people to take small loans through UPI.

The main reasons for its slow adoption are problems in giving loans, lack of awareness, and the fact that people already have other options like credit cards.

Banks are also finding it costly to offer these small loans.

However, experts believe that using technology like AI and Digital Payments Infrastructure could make it easier and cheaper for banks to offer these credit lines in the future.

Currently, only a few banks are offering this service, and the Reserve Bank of India has recently allowed small finance banks to offer it as well.

The government has also launched schemes like PMJDY, which has opened more than 530 million bank accounts, with 56% held by women.

This has helped in empowering women and boosting financial inclusion in rural areas.