Published Paper Details:

India's digital payment systems have changed how people handle daily money matters, but not everyone uses them equally. This study examines whether caste and religion, or education level, have a greater effect on people's use of digital payments and investment choices. The research focuses on the urban fringe areas of Bankura city in West Bengal as a representative of a medium-sized city characterized by a moderate rate of urbanization (10-12%) in eastern or central India. This study investigates whether caste and religion or education level more strongly influence digital payment usage and market-linked investment behaviour in the urban fringe of Bankura city, West Bengal. Using primary survey data from 1,483 adults collected in 2024, the analysis applies descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, and binary logistic regression. Results reveal that while raw differences appear across caste and religious groups, these largely disappear once education is controlled for. Education emerges as the dominant, highly significant predictor. Each higher level of education multiplies the odds of digital payment adoption by over 4 times (OR = 4.14, p < 0.001), with caste and religion showing no independent effect (p > 0.10). The findings indicate that in transitional peri-urban settings, low educational attainment and income insecurity, rather than social identity, are the primary barriers to financial inclusion.