IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON FINTECH AND FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN INDIA

Abstract

The study seeks to investigate how the pandemic of Covid-19 has impacted customer engagement in using Fintech services and resultantly the status of financial inclusion in India. This study is empirical and analytical in nature. Digital payment is taken as a proxy of FinTech. The data is collected from primary and secondary sources. To understand what persuades a customer to use FinTech services, the response to a survey questionnaire has been obtained from 310 respondents through e-mail and hand collection. Factor analysis is used to investigate the factors that impacted customer engagement in digital payment, before and after the Covid-19 pandemic. The factors used in this model are access, usage, technology, and financial literacy. Results show that there is a significant positive relationship between all the factors and the use of FinTech services. There is a significant positive relationship between FinTech and financial inclusion, as already established by the previous studies. The findings of this review are pivotal as they can serve as useful input for the ongoing debate directed towards increased use of FinTech in achieving greater financial inclusion. The findings suggest that by advancing the technology and increasing financial literacy, access, and use of FinTech services can be increased which in turn will increase financial inclusion in developing countries.