RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das delivered a powerful message to India's fintech sector at the Global Fintech Fest, emphasizing that "the harder work of reaching those still outside the system is where the potential to impact is least realised today and where it matters the most." As reported by Rediff Moneynews, Governor Das noted that India's fintech ecosystem ranks third globally and is home to 30 unicorns, while urging fintechs to build products for the world from India. He stressed that "many emerging economies face challenges which are very similar to ours. As a result, our solutions for financial inclusion, affordable payments, digital identity, interoperable infrastructure, and trusted innovation can be appropriately repurposed for wider global adoption." The Governor also announced that the United Fintech Forum has been recognised as the second self-regulatory organisation (SRO) of the fintech sector, alongside SEBI chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey who launched the tokenisation of corporate bonds.
India recorded a national DCII score of 55.85 out of 100, placing it in the "Emerging and Served" category according to the latest Digital Credit and Inclusion Index (DCII) 2026. As reported by Mint, Access emerged as the strongest pillar at 61.24, followed by Adoption at 57.17, while Impact stood at 49.16, indicating that greater access has yet to translate fully into stronger financial resilience and savings outcomes. The survey, conducted by Pahle India Foundation in collaboration with Amazon Pay, examined over 5,100 respondents across 100 cities in 20 states. Tier-2 cities recorded an average DCII score of 58.64, compared with 53.1 for Tier-1 and 55.7 for Tier-3 cities, with Coimbatore, Surat, Nagpur, Indore, Prayagraj, Ranchi, Ghaziabad and Ludhiana among the cities leading this expansion. The finding that Tier-2 cities lead digital credit inclusion signals where the next wave of growth could emerge, with 75% of Amazon Pay's customers based in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
The survey revealed significant differences in digital credit adoption between genders and urban tiers. According to the report, Tier-2 cities show the narrowest gender gap in digital credit inclusion at 2.8 points, compared with 9.1 points in Tier-1 cities. Among salaried respondents specifically, salaried women record a DCII score of 62.0, compared with 60.2 for salaried men. The report noted that while men score higher than women overall on digital credit inclusion, the gap reverses among salaried respondents, with the trend also narrowing across generations. This suggests that stronger adoption is also accompanied by more balanced participation, indicating progress in financial inclusion. The gap also narrows among younger consumers, standing at 2.9 points among those aged 18-29, compared with 4.6 points among respondents aged 60 and above. The index also identifies a divide among homemakers, gig workers, daily-wage earners and students, whose digital credit inclusion scores are around 11 points lower than those of salaried and business respondents.
The index found that digital credit is primarily used for consumption purposes, with 59% of respondents using it to purchase electronics and home appliances. As reported by Mint, productive use of digital credit, such as investing in business, building assets, or supporting financial planning, remains relatively low, with a score of 43.2. However, frequent users show stronger productive usage, with 64% reporting that they use digital credit productively. The survey also examined how easily and frequently respondents access digital credit, why they borrow, whether they trust it, and whether its use contributes to stronger financial outcomes, going beyond existing benchmarks that track payment adoption or aggregate loan volumes. This data suggests that while digital credit is increasingly available, it has yet to become a meaningful financial cushion during financial difficulties, with familiarity with digital borrowing potentially encouraging consumers to use credit for longer-term financial goals.
Despite widespread awareness, trust remains considerably weaker than for digital payments, with confidence in digital borrowing at 52.5, compared with 69.7 for digital payments, creating a 17-point gap. According to the report, awareness of digital credit is no longer a major hurdle, with 94.4% of respondents aware of at least one digital credit instrument. The finding highlights the need for greater transparency, simplicity and trust in digital borrowing. When respondents faced cash shortfalls, the survey revealed that 48.2% turned to savings, while only 6.9% used a digital loan app and 3.4% used Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). Digital credit may be increasingly available but has yet to become a significant financial cushion for cash shortfalls, with traditional savings remaining the primary fallback mechanism during financial difficulties.
Governor Das emphasized that "financial inclusion remains the single most important potential that fintech can deliver," while noting that "modern tools for underwriting and credit assessment have made last-mile financial services delivery such as credit to MSMEs, women or small and marginal farmers in villages, commercially viable." However, he rued that "too much of the industry's efforts still gravitated towards customers who are already banked, already digitally literate and already visible to a credit bureau." The RBI Governor urged fintechs to treat data as a "fiduciary responsibility, not as a business asset," stating that "this data must be treated the way a trustee treats assets held for a beneficiary, collected with a clear purpose and used strictly within the consent provided, and protected as though it was one's own." He also stressed that "many fintechs may be outside the perimeter of prudential regulation, but as their size (payment volumes, user base, lending book etc) grows to an extent where any disruption could affect the financial system, they had a responsibility beyond their own balance sheet." The DCII launch on September 10, 2026, represents a comprehensive study of digital credit inclusion beyond traditional payment adoption metrics, highlighting the growing importance of Tier-2 cities in India's digital financial landscape and the need for sustained focus on trust-building initiatives.
