Impact of Financial Technology (Fintech) on Financial Inclusion(FI) in Rural India

Abstract

Transformation towards Financial technology makes possibilities throughout all areas of the economy for growth. Emerging developing economies have seen a fast expansion of financial technology and mobile money services. FinTech projects, which are regarded as some of the most significant advances in the financial sector, have also obviously been driven by the growth of digital transformation, as FinTech Mobile money and digital wallets address the economic infrastructure vacuum with an innovative technology solution and enable customers to conduct financial transactions affordably and dependably by eliminating spatial barriers, and can be used to bridge the gap of banked and unbanked. This paper investigates the critical success factors influencing the adoption of disruptive financial technology for financial inclusion in rural India. Present research empirically measures the impact of technology in promoting entrepreneurship in under-developed regions for future adoption of financial technology in rural areas. The quantitative approach uses inferential statistics for hypothesis testing. Exploratory Factor Analysis is being applied for critical factor identification and Structural Equation modeling for measuring the impact of FinTech in financial inclusion in Rural India. The result indicates that factors constructing the social influence also positively impact behavioural intention to use manager technology in the rural sector in India. An end-user habit of using financial technology systems and services has a positive relationship with behavioural intention. Factors affecting perceived ease of use towards using the financial technology are positively related to the system's usability. Present work provides emerging good practices for policy-makers, regulators, and investors in changing financial environment. It presents empirical findings to identify the critical success factor and another growth driver for FinTech services. The results would help mobile service industry to discover an economy of scope in providing services at low cost and with maximum social benefits. Study will also provide insights to financial institutions for offering banking services via mobile to handle cross-border transactions to low-income customers of remote areas.