Today, India accounts for nearly half of the world’s real-time payment transactions. Yet, beneath this success story lies a persistent gender divide. India’s payments landscape was transformed a decade ago when the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on August 25, 2016.
“Around 43% of women in India had an account at a bank or similar financial institution in 2014, compared with 62% of men, a gender gap of nearly 20 percentage points. By 2024, account ownership had risen to 89% among women and 88% among men, effectively closing the gender gap,” according to an ILO-NCAER report
The finance ministry said on Tuesday, “The next decade of UPI is poised to drive even greater transformation in India’s digital payments landscape. By bringing new users and merchants to the UPI Ecosystem, the Government of India remains committed to enabling the next phase of UPI-led innovation and strengthening India’s digital payments ecosystem through continued policy support, technological advancement, and greater financial inclusion.”
