Bridging the Urban-Rural Divide: How Integrated Financial Platforms Are Driving Financial Inclusion: By Kunal Jhunjhunwala
India's digital economy has been nothing short of remarkable; UPI transactions crossed 16.99 billion in January 2025 alone, fintech startups are flourishing, and banking is now more mobile than ever. However, beyond the metros and Tier-1 cities, the picture is not quite as ideal. In India's rural and semi-urban pockets, millions still struggle with limited access to formal financial services, creating a digital divide that mirrors socio-economic inequalities. The real problem in these areas is that financial needs are rarely limited to just one service; they often span payments, savings, credit, and risk protection.
Hence, a solution that has the combined ability to address all these needs through a single access point is required, removing the friction of fragmented services. This is where integrated financial platforms play a crucial role, working in the background and quietly reshaping the experience. They are bridging the gap between first-time access and long-term financial inclusion by making payments, banking, credit, and insurance available through a single, user-friendly interface.
Power of Localized Solutions
The need for integrated financial platforms in rural areas is critical, largely due to low digital literacy. While 40.2% of urban residents use online banking, only 21% in rural India do - revealing a gap that reflects not just digital access, but digital confidence. This digital divide is further deepened by the lack of nearby bank branches and unreliable internet connectivity, forcing people to travel long distances—often at a high cost of time and money, to access basic financial services. On top of that, language barriers make it even harder for many marginalized sectors to navigate and adopt digital tools, limiting their participation in the formal economy.
Integrated platforms address these challenges using mobile-first technology and offline-to-online (O2O) models. Through smartphones and offline-compatible devices, users in remote regions can access essential financial services without the need to travel long distances to physical branches. Complementing this, these platforms have adopted multilingual interfaces and intuitive designs, offering easy-to-use apps in various regional languages. This enables users from diverse linguistic backgrounds to direct services easily and confidently. Furthermore, assisted commerce models have emerged as a key solution. Local agents, often community members themselves, guide users through digital transactions, helping them onboard despite limited technological experience.
For example, integrated platforms often collaborate with Kirana stores and service agents who double as trusted financial facilitators. A customer visiting their neighborhood Kirana store for groceries can now also pay utility bills, withdraw cash, or explore credit options — all with real-time assistance from a trusted local agent. This hyperlocal model builds trust and integrates financial access into familiar, everyday routines, encouraging gradual and sustained digital adoption. In parallel, these platforms prioritize user security by providing transparent and easy-to-understand information about data protection practices. This clarity plays a vital role in fostering trust and encouraging participation among communities traditionally wary of digital systems.
Plan In Action
Integrated financial solutions are the silent architects of change in underserved communities, touching sectors like agriculture, entrepreneurship, and women's empowerment—each finding its own path to growth and inclusion. For example, local shop owners, tailors, or mechanics can now access formal credit without the traditional barriers of collateral or complicated paperwork. By creating digital profiles and submitting simplified applications, they can apply for small business loans through mobile-based services. This access to timely credit enables them to invest in inventory, expand their services, or hire additional help, sparking local economic growth.
Similarly, smallholder farmers facing weather-related uncertainties and crop failure now have easier access to micro-insurance schemes. These can be enrolled directly via mobile phones or through nearby agents, ensuring they can recover quickly from natural setbacks. With this, rural women, especially those running home-based businesses or self-help groups, are also reaping the benefits of integrated financial services. With access to digital wallets, savings accounts, and secure payment systems available in regional languages, these women can easily receive payments, pay bills, and build credit histories. This newfound financial autonomy enables them to scale operations and invest in future growth.
Look Out for Geographical Divide
The gap in digital payment adoption is stark, only 16% of rural populations engage in digital payments, contrast to 46% in urban areas. This divide highlights the urgent need for strategic partnerships, policy reforms, and infrastructure investments to close the gap. Moreover, financial inclusion goes beyond account ownership; it provides pathways for individuals to actively engage in the formal economy. By aligning integrated platforms with government schemes, millions can gain access to essential financial services and find new growth opportunities. With technology as an enabler and the right partnerships in place, financial inclusion can evolve from a long-standing aspiration to a nationwide reality.
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Scotsman
3 hours ago
- Scotsman
Big picture take on future of Scotch and sustainability
To discuss The Future of Scotch Whisky in Changing Times, McLaren Packaging, in association with The Scotsman, recently hosted about 90 senior stakeholders from across the industry at a special one-day event at Barnbougle Castle on the Dalmeny Estate to the north of Edinburgh. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Expert panellists were assembled, and Rosemary Gallagher of The Scotsman chaired two panels – one on the big picture for the outlook for Scotch, the other examining sustainability in the industry in its widest sense. Scotch whisky– the big picture Sebastian Burnside, chief economist at the Royal Bank of Scotland, discussed the big financial issues impacting Scotch and other sectors. 'In terms of tariffs, it's very encouraging to see the broad trajectory of negotiations happening. The UK-India trade deal is something which many parts of the economy have been looking for a long time,' Sebastian said. 'In the UK, we take for granted the deepness of our links with India, culturally, through people and through the potential markets. So it's really encouraging that the politics have aligned to be able to get a deal. And even more encouraging that clearly Scotch was a big part of the specifics. It will hopefully benefit from a good increase in demand and from those reductions in tariffs.' He added: 'Scotch, and Scotland in itself as a brand, deserves an enormous amount of credit for punching above its weight in terms of its prominence and significance in people's minds, hearts and perceptions across the world.' However, Sebastian said the drinks industry needs to be responsive to changing attitudes to alcohol, including lower consumption. He referred to a consumer phenomena he had recently heard of – 'zebra striping' –whereby people alternate between alcoholic and soft drinks on social occasions. Expanding on the analysis of the industry, Laurence Whyatt, director Barclays equity research team, which is focused on the global beverages market, said he had good and bad news. He explained the use of demographic changes to predict alcohol consumption. 'The amount of alcohol consumed is really dictated by the number of young people aged from about 25 to 45,' he said. 'There are some countries with a growing young population and that's good news. The US is one of them and one of the most important alcohol markets in the world.' Laurence observed that we don't see evidence for cannabis substitution or the use of weight-control drug Ozempic having a material negative impact on the demographic's alcohol consumption. He said the only truth in young people drinking less is a decline in underage consumption – but not age 21+ consumption – and a slight decline in heavy consumption of five or more drinks in a row. Laurence's outlook is less positive when it comes to markets with a shrinking younger population, with him saying: 'China has been an extremely important alcohol market, particularly for Cognac, Scotch and beer, and it is facing some of the worst demographic changes of any country. The Chinese birth rate in the 1960s and 1970s was about six babies per woman, by the early 1990s it had fallen to one and a half.' Also on the panel was writer and businessman Mark Stevenson, who describes himself as a 'reluctant futurist' and has advised many, from popstars to governments, on approaches to climate change. He was asked what impact things such as President Trump saying 'drill baby drill', and the pushback on sustainability in some parts of the world was having. He replied: 'One thing that is very clear is that the future is going to be very different than any of us can imagine. You might have heard this acronym, VUCA – volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity – and I think we can all feel it. With Covid, and now what's happening in the Ukraine and Middle East, all of us begin to realise these things are not disconnected.' Mark added: 'There is a lie that we are told that having a sustainable, equitable and just world is too expensive. The truth is, not having it is way more expensive.' As a luxury product, Mark believes that Scotch whisky, and related supply chain companies such as McLaren Packaging, are ideally positioned to be fully sustainable and able to regenerate the country's economy and ecosystem in the long term. He added: 'I'm a huge fan of Scotch whisky and I live by a mantra which is 'a life well lived, on the planet well loved.'' Turning to what producers are doing to futureproof the industry, Sarah Badesha, head of engineering at drinks giant Chivas Brothers, told the assembled: 'We have a big investment programme, particularly at our flagship Kilmalid bottling site in Dumbarton, where we're looking to invest over £60 million on modernising our facilities. We need to be competitive and at the forefront in terms of technology. 'Another reason we invest is that we have safety as a driver. The more we can automate and take risky activities outof the workplace, the safer our people.' For a storied company like Chivas Brothers, which has a huge range of well-loved, high quality brands, it is vital to balance modernisation with protecting history and heritage. Sarah explained: 'We have parts of our portfolio where we'll always hand fill bottles, hand polish and hand inspect, but we've augmented that with 360-degree cameras so that we know what goes to consumers is utterly perfect.' Focusing on consumer behaviour and attitudes to brands, Piers Lawson, client director at Leith-based agency Contagious Design, said: 'We're working a lot with clients to redefine codes of luxury within Scotch. Traditional markers like exclusivity, rarity, and craft still matter, but they now sit alongside a growing demand for transparency, responsibility, and cultural relevance.' He expanded: 'What we're seeing more with younger drinkers is that they're promiscuous with their palettes, but loyal to brands whose values they share. It's about tapping into emotional connections and storytelling with brands across all aspects, from packaging, to brand home experience, to digital media'Piers commented that consumers are more informed these days, including on the subject of sustainability. 'Consumers are really interested in what decisions are being made by brands to help the environment,' he added. 'Sustainability should be treated as a non-negotiable hygiene factor for all brands.' On competition from other whiskies, Piers said: 'Scotch has always had a powerful edge in its heritage, craft, and global reputation – but heritage alone isn't enough anymore. What's changing is the pace of innovation and storytelling from newer whisky-producing regions.' For Scotch to stay ahead, it needs to move from being the category benchmark –think craft, heritage, global reputation – to being the category leader in reinvention. In terms of the consumer, the new wave of whisky-producing regions can be mutually beneficial. A larger category will offer greater choice for consumers, allowing them to start their whisky journey from other geographies and move up the funnel to the Rolls-Royce of whisky – Scotch!' Barnbougle Castle | Supplied Scotch whisky and sustainability Discussion during the second panel session covered a wide range of sustainability related topics, from the challenges and opportunities of net-zero to the efforts to encourage a more diverse workforce. Professor Tim George, director of the International Barley Hub, explained that one of its priorities is to reduce 'scope-three emissions', or the greenhouse gas associated with barley production, saying: 'We're also interested in how we can improve the resilience of barley to the stresses associated with climate change. 'There's also a lot of interest in understanding the impact of the production systems on soil, water, and air, and reducing the detrimental environmental impacts. We're looking at how regenerative agriculture can improve the environmental credentials of production.' Tim gave the example of research funded by Diageo looking at the effects on soil health by making agriculture more regenerative. Kristin Hughes, head of global sustainability grain to glass at Diageo, said: 'We're taking a very direct approach and have already invested quite a bit of CapEx to drive decarbonisation in our own operations. At Cameronbridge, for example, we've invested to allow us to use the spent grains from distilling to heat the boilers. We're therefore taking a circular approach. At Leven, we've invested in around 7,800 solar panels to provide a lot of the energy we need.' While Diageo is the world's biggest producer of Scotch, also on the panel was Jessica Stewart, sustainability manager at InchDairnie Whisky, a relatively new distiller founded by industry stalwart Ian Palmer. Jessica said: 'When InchDairnie was built in 2015, the founder wanted to design a distillery that could overcome a lot of the challenges faced by the industry over the decades. 'We have a distillery with a huge amount of innovation – energy and water efficiency, alongside flavour, are at the core of the business.' She added that InchDairnie is aiming to become BCorp certified, something only a handful of whisky producers have achieved, saying: 'It shows you are accountable and willing to measure, report and improve on sustainability.' On the supply chain, Donald McLaren, managing director of McLaren Packaging, reported that its customers are wrestling with key challenges around sustainability – costs, varying attitudes and legislation in different countries, as well as the huge amount of information to digest, including misinformation. He explained: 'We're helping our customers with these things and it's our job to steer our business in the right direction. We focus on being local here in Scotland and being open and collaborative. 'Being an independent company means we can choose to partner with those that have invested in low-carbon, low-impact ways of doing things.' Donald added: 'We created our own sustainability strategy six years ago, and we've voluntarily committed to report carbon emissions in our financial results.' Diversity and inclusion was discussed by panellists. SallyAnn Kelly, chief executive officer of Aberlour children's charity, explained: 'We currently support about 1,000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who have made their way to Britain through problematic and difficult routes. They are hugely motivated young people, but hold with them huge amounts of trauma because many of them have come from conflict zones. It's really important to us to hold onto inclusive values.' According to Kristin, developing a diverse workforce can also help reach a wider base of customers. And Tim added: 'In science, diversity is absolutely key. We need to attract talented people to the International Barley Hub.' Corporate social responsibility is also core to sustainability and Donald explained that McLaren Packaging takes this very seriously within Inverclyde, the community where the company was founded in 1979 and where the firm is headquartered. He said: 'Inverclyde sadly has some of the highest levels of harm through poverty in the UK and across Europe. As a business we commit to providing 3 per cent of our operating profit – or £200,000 minimum – a year to the Newark Trust, a local grant giving charity focused in Inverclyde.'
The Sun
5 hours ago
- The Sun
Major bank to axe fees for thousands of customers using their debit cards abroad this summer
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Reuters
5 hours ago
- Reuters
Rupee buckles under position unwinding; dollar demand builds
MUMBAI, June 4 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee declined for the sixth time in seven sessions on Wednesday, slipping briefly past 86 to the U.S. dollar, as traders unwound bullish positions amid persistent demand for the greenback. The rupee weakened to 86.0225 on Thursday before recovering marginally to end the day 0.4% lower at 85.90. The Indian currency has declined nearly 1.5% from a high of 84.78 it touched last Monday, making it one of the worst-performing Asian currencies over this period. "There is no real let-up in dollar demand from corporates and it would seem that dollar/rupee shorts are done for now, both in onshore spot and in the non-deliverable forward market," a currency trader at a bank said. Speculators are no more inclined to sell the dollar/rupee pair on rallies, unless "things improve" for the rupee, he said. The rupee has been underperforming regardless of what the dollar index or Asian peers are doing. "Frankly, most of us didn't expect this," the trader said, forecasting more losses for the rupee in the coming days. Forex advisors are urging clients with near-term dollar payables to exercise caution. The risk-reward favours "proactive cover" rather than waiting for dips on dollar/rupee, Kunal Kurani, vice president at Mecklai Financial said. The dollar index was marginally higher on Wednesday. Market focus is on the May U.S. non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which could influence expectations around the Federal Reserve's policy path. Asian currencies were mostly weaker awaiting updates on U.S. trade deals. President Donald Trump's administration has set a Wednesday deadline for revised trade proposals from key partners. A call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is reportedly in the works amid mutual accusations of backtracking on tariff rollback commitments.
