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India's Approach to Open Banking: Some Implications for Financial Inclusion

SDGs Impacted

The authors examine how the development of the digital infrastructure known as the “India Stack”—including an interoperable payments system, a universal digital ID, and other features—is delivering on the government’s objective to expand the provision of financial services. While each individual component of the India Stack is important, the authors argue that its key overarching feature is a foundational approach of providing extensive public infrastructures and standards that generates important synergies across the layers of the Stack. Until recently, a large share of India’s population lacked access to formal banking services and was largely reliant on cash for financial transactions. The expansion of mobile-based financial services that enable simple and convenient ways to save and conduct financial transactions has provided a novel alternative for expanding the financial net. The Stack’s improved digital infrastructures have already allowed for a rapid increase in the use of digital payments and the entry of a range of competitors including fintech and bigtech firms.

Impact / Outcome
The development of the India Stack has implemented open banking principles of competition and contestability through interoperability and data sharing in the financial sector. By bringing in a diverse range of banks and non-banks together under a common infrastructure, this architecture has potentially facilitated financial inclusion, as evidenced by the increase in high volume-low value payment transactions. The overall structure of publicly provided digital infrastructures has scope to support the provision of many financial services and to further deepen financial inclusion and development.
Funding sources
Public/Private
Key Metrics
Promote financial inclusion through increased access to financial services
Locations
India & South Asia, India
Sector
Financial services
Intervention lever
Direct government
Operating model
Public-private partnership
Year published
01 January 2021

The EDISON Alliance

A World Economic Forum Initiative