Digital Payments Strategies for Financial Inclusion

Financial Inclusion (FI) eliminates obstacles for individuals and micro-enterprises from partaking in the formal financial sector and accessing financial services to advance their revenue sources and quality of living. FI has a wide-ranging scope, including transforming unbanked households into banked ones, addressing low-income levels, tackling economic and labour informality, managing high costs in the country, and extending to various other matters such as considerations of gender-related aspects, culture, and religious requirements, values, as well as financial literacy of the country. However, digital payments have gained significant prominence within the financial inclusion strategies developed by many countries. Digital Payment is a financial transaction that can be performed online/via the Internet without using physical money. Therefore, it is important to clarify how adopting digital payments contributes to FI. This chapter is a documentary exploration of how Sri Lanka, India, and Malaysia strategically incorporated digital payments into their FI initiatives, anticipating positive economic growth outcomes in each respective country. This discourse offers concise and instructive insights, allowing readers to grasp the digital payments construct in the context of promoting financial inclusivity.