From digitisation to platformisation — how social protection schemes can be made more accessible
Social Protection Open Digital Ecosystems (SP-ODEs) can provide beneficiaries, government and service providers a unified, digital platform to better access welfare schemes.
From Digital Payments to Financial Inclusion: The Challenges Ahead
Digital payments are currently being envisioned as a gateway to financial inclusion for the poor and marginalised in India. In this article, Indradeep Ghosh, Executive Director, Dvara Research, examines the rationale for such a vision. He argues that the penetration of digital payments remains low for the poor and marginalised, partly because of unfavourable economics and partly because digital payments interfaces are not well designed to suit this segment. If India can overcome these two hurdles, then digital payments can indeed become more common among the poor and marginalised, and thereby catalyse much wider and deeper financial inclusion in India than has hitherto been possible.
Report: The costs of using Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products have become one of the popular modes for customers to finance their retail purchases. BNPL products are being postured as challengers to credit cards that can make credit more accessible to customers at little to no cost.
Towards designing UPI services for constrained users
This blog post summarises literature regarding users who are most likely to face difficulties in using digital payments, and some design principles and best practices that could simplify digital payment interfaces.
‘Buy Now, Pay Later’: What is it, and how does it affect customer protection?
This post summarises how BNPL lending functions and highlights customer protection concerns that can put at risk the promise of better credit access.
Making digital finance work for women
Digital formal finance can potentially reduce the physical and social distance between women and financial services.
Comments to the Reserve Bank of India on the Report of the Working Group on Digital Lending including Lending through Online Platforms and Mobile Apps dated 18 November 2021
In this blog post, we present our comments to the Report of the Working Group on Digital Lending including Lending through Online Platforms and Mobile Apps, November 2021 (the Report) in response to the call for comments from all stakeholders by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Fintech in India: Can the trust stack up?
Providing a human interface at crucial touch points such consent, disclosure, and grievance redressal will allow for trust in fintech to rise, driving financial inclusion
Designing a consent artefact for digital financial services to cater to constrained users
In this policy brief, we review the literature to uncover the deficiencies of the consent model and propose measures to improve the consent artefact for new to technology and constrained users.
A Primer on Competition in the Digital Economy
Disruptive innovations (mainly through digitalisation) are resulting in a change in the structure of
markets and their functioning, emergence of new business models as well as new products and
processes (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2017).
