Digital Financial Inclusion and Economic Growth in India (2014–2024)

Ankita Gautam

Diplomová práce

Abstract:

This thesis focuses on how Digital Financial Inclusion and economic growth are associated with one another in India between the years 2016 to 2024. The study focuses on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) as an indicator of digital financial inclusion and it examines the link between it and GDP growth, besides the descriptive trends in the number of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojan (PMJDY) accounts and poverty reduction. The study adopts a quantitative research design as it relies on secondary data which is acquired by some of the official documents that include the national payments corporation of India (NPCI), reserve bank of India (RBI), ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MOSPI), and NITI Aayog. Descriptive analysis is adopted to record trends in the UPI transactions, PMJDY accounts and poverty indicators. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) is a regression technique used in testing a UPI adoption vs. GDP growths in terms of inflation. The descriptive findings in terms of the extraordinary growth in UPI transactions can be sensed with the growth from value of transactions from 2016 at 893 crore to the present value over 2.46 lakh crore in 2024 with a massive increase in the number of transactions of over the target 17,200 crore transactions. PMJDY has increased more than twice from 26.5 crore to 54.4 crore, and almost achieved universal household coverage, with rural coverage increasing from 45.7 per cent to 66.6 per cent. The Multidimensional Poverty Index has declined from 24.85 per cent in 2015-16 to 14.96 per cent and in 2019-21, of whom, 13.5 crores people lifted themselves out of poverty. The regression results show no statistically significant relationship between the UPI adoption and the growth of GDP in the study period. The validity of the model of diagnostic tests is provided without traces of heteroskedasticity, multicollinearity and autocorrelation. The results indicate that although the adoption of digital financial inclusion has accelerated dramatically and poverty has come down to a large extent, the impact of the short-run relationship between the adoption of UPI. and GDP growth is statistically insignificant. This could be because of the short time frame, the disruptive nature of the covid-19 pandemic or that the effects of digital payments growth occur through indirect or delayed channels.

Keywords

Digital Financial Inclusion, Economic Growth, UPI, PMJDY, Digital Payments

Jazyk práce: angličtina

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 30. 3. 2026

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedoucí: doc. Ing. Karel Malec, Ph.D.

Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze

Provozně ekonomická fakulta

Magisterský studijní program:
Economics and Management