India’s success with UPI offers a replicable model for other nations, a paper written by noted experts asserted, arguing that how this indigenous fintech solution combined public digital infrastructure with open banking policies to reduce financial exclusion, foster innovation, and promote equitable economic growth.
The paper, which runs into 67 pages, titled ‘Open Banking and Digital Payments: Implications for Credit Access’ was authored by Shashwat Alok, Pulak Ghosh, Nirupama Kulkarni and Manju Puri.
Among key highlights of the paper are that UPI has enabled underserved groups, including subprime and new-to-credit borrowers, to access formal credit for the first time. In regions with high UPI adoption, loans to new-to-credit borrowers grew by 4 per cent, and to subprime borrowers by 8 per cent, the paper claimed.
Unified Payment Interface is India’s leading digital payment platform. Payments through digital means in India are hitting fresh highs, as its citizens are increasingly adopting the emerging modes of transacting on the internet. Among others, a key emphasis of the Indian government has been on ensuring that the benefits of UPI are not limited to India only; other countries, too, benefit from it.
Since its launch in 2016, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has transformed financial access in India, enabling 300 million individuals and 50 million merchants to perform seamless digital transactions.
By October 2023, 75 per cent of all retail digital payments in India were through UPI.
The affordability of digital technology played a critical role, enabling widespread UPI adoption in rural and urban areas alike.
According to the paper, a 10 per cent increase in UPI transactions led to a 7 per cent rise in credit availability, reflecting how digital financial histories enabled lenders to assess borrowers better.
“Between 2015 and 2019, fintech loans to subprime borrowers grew to match those of banks, with FinTech’s thriving in high UPI-usage areas.”
“Despite the credit surge, default rates did not rise, showing that UPI enabled digital transaction data helped lenders expand responsibly,” the highlight section of the paper read.
