India is leading the way in financial inclusion for women

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Earlier this month the G20 leaders gathered in New Delhi under India's presidency with the overarching theme of "One Earth, One Family, One Future." As the leaders wisely recognized, that vision can only be achieved with the full and equal inclusion of women in society and in the economy. As they stated in their communique, "[G]ender equality is of fundamental importance, and … investing in the empowerment of all women and girls has a multiplier effect in implementing the 2030 Agenda." 

With the upcoming transition of the G20 presidency to Brazil, one of the world's pioneers in digital financial inclusion, this represents a golden opportunity to expand upon the progress under the Indian presidency — particularly in the area of creating a gender-intentional digital public infrastructure (DPI). But advancing DPI ultimately requires a shared effort between government, the private sector and civil society.

Digital public infrastructure comprises the foundational digital systems and tools including personal identification, payment infrastructure, data registries (like business or health records) and connectivity infrastructure — that together serve as the backbone for full participation in a modern economy. Yet the digital infrastructure available around the world today is often not as conscious of gender differences as it should be. Investments by both governments and the private sector are required to bridge the digital gender divide and ensure equitable access to financial services for the nearly 1 billion women currently excluded from the formal financial system. 

Such investments would not only benefit countless women and their families, but they are also in the common interest of business, government and the global community, particularly as we collectively sprint to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. By placing women at the core of their business strategy, banks and financial service providers stand to unlock a staggering $700 billion in annual revenues, simply by catering to women at the same pace as men. More than this, balancing the financial scales could release $1.7 trillion in new loans to women-driven ventures and yield $50 billion in fresh insurance premium revenue every year.  

Of course, women's financial inclusion is not only an economic imperative, but also an accelerator of sustainable development for all. In India, the power of a gender-intentional DPI in advancing the entirety of society and the economy has been evident over the past decade. New government initiatives that offered easily accessible savings accounts and need-based credit portable identity systems, and expanded mobile phone access — such as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the Aadhaar identity system and the OTP mobile phone system — have not only fast-forwarded women's financial inclusion, but have accomplished an estimated 40 years' worth of development progress in less than a decade while strengthening India's collective resilience. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, India's DPI-driven systems ensured that benefits were disbursed faster than in many developed nations and has narrowed the gender gap between 2017 and 2021 by 6 percentage points to effectively zero.  

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For decades, Indian civil society and the financial system have worked together toward creating this financial inclusion success story. Most recently, Women's World Banking (WWB) leveraged India's expanding digital public infrastructure by working with public sector banks across 21 Indian states to introduce a successful savings solution to over 14.5 million women customers. WWB's gender-intentional product design, coupled with systems and processes that respond to the unique needs of women customers, has now extended beyond savings to other financial products such as insurance, pension, and credit.

Global evidence across countries shows that a financial ecosystem built on robust DPI, in tandem with existing banking networks, can be leveraged to expand financial services among unserved and underserved populations, of which women are a significant segment. The G20 India presidency has included the cross-cutting theme of gender and women's economic empowerment along with DPI as a vital theme of its presidency, recognizing that many women face particular challenges that impact their path to economic empowerment. These can include lack of formal identification, lower digital financial capability, limited access to smartphones, less access to formal credit and sociocultural barriers. The onus of addressing these challenges falls on stakeholders across the financial ecosystem. Government, regulators, financial services providers, civil society and others can all play a powerful role in prioritizing DPI and technological innovations to level the playing field. 

As India's presidency comes to a close, the next G20 president has the opportunity to further advance gender-inclusive financial services on the global stage. Brazil was one of the world's first pioneers in digital financial inclusion, especially from 2003 to 2011, when programs like the Bolsa Familia were first introduced. Bolsa Familia is the world's largest conditional cash transfer program that reduced poverty and had positive education and health outcomes; payments were digitally delivered to recipients who are primarily women, yielding important financial inclusion and empowerment impacts as well. 

Key measures to advance gender-inclusive DPI include ensuring identity systems and documents are universally available to all women and girls, promoting mobile phone ownership among women, streamlining digital payments for ease and security and implementing digital financial skills development programs. Clear and easy-to-understand product terms are also crucial, especially for low-income women, who may have limited financial experience. Adopting a DPI that safeguards women's interests, especially in areas such as data privacy, is essential to foster a truly inclusive digital financial environment.

Within its G20 presidency, India's leadership has magnified the transformative power of a gender-intentional digital public infrastructure. The private sector can play a pivotal role by not only supporting inclusive DPI, but by innovating and scaling solutions that can help bridge the gap. As Brazil takes the helm of the G20, it inherits not just the responsibility but also the extraordinary opportunity to champion women's financial inclusion on a global scale. A gender-inclusive digital world is more than just economically beneficial — it's an embodiment of a more equitable, just and prosperous future for all.