Factsheet Details:

Economy

From Cash to Digital: India’s Leap Towards Inclusive Finance

Posted On: 15 AUG 2025 16:22 PM

Introduction

In just a decade, India has revolutionized its citizens’ relationship with money. Now financial access is not a privilege. The financial inclusion initiatives in the country resulted in providing the baking facilities in the narrow lanes of rural area too. Through visionary initiatives like Jan Dhan Yojana, UPI, and Aadhaar-enabled payments, the nation has unlocked doors to savings, credit, and insurance for every citizen and made them Atmanirbhar. The financial inclusion not just provide banking facilities, but also provide empowerment and opportunity to everyone and it could be confirmed with the data released by RBI.

Indicators Pointing towards Financially Included India

The Reserve Bank of India released Financial Inclusion Index (FI-Index) for the year ending March 2025 which stands at 67.0 and increased by 24.3 percent since 2021..

Financial Inclusion is one of key enablers for achieving 7 out of 17 goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals adopted by United Nation members.

The Global Findex 2025, published by World Bank highlights that account ownership in India has reached to 89 per cent since 2011 and the country has made progress in increasing the share of adults with active accounts.

Driving Change: Key Initiatives Powering Financial Inclusion

India’s financial inclusion journey is driven by a powerful mix of policy innovation, digital revolution and community outreach. From zero-balance accounts to doorstep banking, targeted initiatives are ensuring that every citizen has access to essential financial services.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

Beneficiaries (as on 14.08.2025)	Balance in beneficiary accounts	Female beneficiaries
56.04 crore	₹2.64 lakh Crore	55% approx

Under the scheme the citizen gets the access to basic savings & deposit accounts, remittance, credit, insurance, pension in an affordable manner

Benefits provided under PMJDY are

One basic saving bank account
No minimum balance requirement,
Rupay debit card
Accident insurance cover of 1 Lakh
Overdraft facility of ₹10,000 to eligible account holders

56.04 Crore beneficiaries banked so far where over 55 per cent accounts are held by women.

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) & JAM Trinity

JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, and Mobile) trinity is the key enabler of India’s transformed and well-developed digital landscape.

DBT uses this JAM network to send government benefits, subsidies, and payments directly into the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.

Jan Dhan accounts receive the funds.
Aadhaar ensures the right person gets it.
Mobile notifies and enables easy access to the money.

As on 14 August, 2025, over ₹ 45.70 lakh Cr has been directly transferred to beneficiaries.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana

Cumulative Enrolment (as on 16.04.2025)	Female beneficiaries	Rural beneficiaries
50.99 crore	46.72%	66.31%

Provides accidental death and disability coverage specially for poor and unprivileged, renewed annually
Premium to be paid is of ₹20/- annually
On death, the nominee receives ₹2 lakhs

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojna

Cumulative Enrolment (as on 16.04.2025)	Female beneficiaries	Rural beneficiaries
23.59 crore	45.06%	61.17%

Offers life insurance cover for death due to any reason
Affordable insurance to broader population including poor and rural population
With the premium of ₹436/- annually per subscriber,
The scheme offers the life cover of ₹2 lakhs.

Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY)

Loans sanctioned (as on 4 august, 2025)	Amount sanctioned
53.85 crore	₹35.13 lakh crore

Facilitates loan upto ₹20 lakhs to income generating small and micro enterprises engaged in the manufacturing, trading or service sectors including activities allied to agriculture such as poultry, dairy, beekeeping, etc.
Described as a scheme dedicated to “Funding the Unfunded”.

Atal Pension Yojana

Subscribers (as on April, 2025)	Total corpus	Women beneficiaries
7.65 crore	₹45,974.67 crore	48% approx.

Monthly pension is provided to the people who have attained the age of 60 years
Aimed at workers in the unorganised sector
Guaranteed minimum pension of ₹1,000/- or 2,000/- or 3,000/- or 4,000 or 5,000/- per month depending on the contributions by the subscribers.

Stand Up India Scheme

Total account sanctioned (as of 31.03.2025)	Total amount sanctioned	Women beneficiaries (amount sanctioned)	SC/ST beneficiaries (amount sanctioned)
273,607	₹62,410.04 crores	76.44%	23.56%

Promotes entrepreneurship at grassroot level focusing SC, ST and women entrepreneurs

help them in starting a greenfield enterprise in manufacturing, services or the trading sector and activities allied to agriculture.

UPI (Unified Payment System)

UPI has revolutionized the nation’s payment ecosystem by integrating multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application.

This system enables seamless fund transfers, merchant payments, and peer-to-peer transactions, offering users flexibility through scheduled payment requests.

It connects 684 banks on a single platform, allowing people to make payments easily without worrying about which bank they use.

As on 11 August, 2025, UPI transactions, have grown from 92 crore in FY 2017-18 to 18,587 crore in FY 2024-25, with a CAGR of 114%. During the same period, the value of transactions has grown from Rs. 1.10 lakh crore to Rs. 261 lakh crore.

In July 2025, UPI reached another milestone recording over 1,946.79 crore transactions in a single month for the first time.^.

Nationwide campaign for Financial Inclusion

3 months campaign for Saturation of Financial Inclusion schemes at Gram Panchayat and Urban Local Bodies from July-September 2025

The campaign covers the re-KYC of due savings accounts, opening of new bank accounts, enrolment under different schemes

In the month of July 2025, 99,753 camps were held, where around 6.65 lakhs accounts were opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and over 10 lakhs re-verification of KYC was done.

CHOTI SIP

Small ticket systematic investment plan is an initiative by SEBI of starting an SIP at ₹250

Promotes financial inclusion for the first time investor

The initiative aims to make mutual fund investing more accessible and encourages individuals to begin their investment journey with a minimal financial commitment

Conclusion

India’s financial inclusion journey is about more than numbers. It is about people gaining the tools to shape their own futures. From direct transfers to low-cost investments, every step is bringing banking, credit, and savings closer to every citizen. These changes are helping millions take control of their finances and build a secure tomorrow.

References:

PIB Backgrounder

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressNoteDetails.aspx?NoteId=154980&ModuleId=3

World Bank

https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex

PMJDY

https://www.pmjdy.gov.in/

DIRECT BENEFIT TRANSFER

https://dbtbharat.gov.in/

NPCI

https://www.npci.org.in/what-we-do/upi/product-statistics

MINISTRY OF FINANCE