Published Paper Details:

Inclusion financial inclusion has become one of the key pillars of an inclusive growth process in India, and digital banking is considered to be the most scalable channel to narrowing the urban-rural gap. Karnataka is the state with a high concentration of rural population and a dense network of regional rural banks and cooperative institutions, which has experienced a rapid growth in the number of Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar-based payment systems and UPI-based transactions. The present paper describes financial inclusion using the concept of digital banking in rural Karnataka as a secondary research based on the main sources like RBI surveys, NABARD surveys, government reports and recent empirical literature. Chi-square and t-tests are used to test association and mean differences hypotheses. The findings suggest that there are great variations in the levels of adoption in the districts, and the more the district is highly digitally used, the higher the inclusion score, which proves the enabling nature of digital channels. Nevertheless, network gaps, low digital literacy, fear of fraud and language problems have become a barrier to the absolute exploitation of digital services. According to the study, it is necessary to supplement infrastructure and product innovations with specific digital literacy, customer protection systems, and vernacular interfaces in rural Karnataka. The results provide policy-relevant information to banks, regulators and state agencies that aim at enhancing digital financial inclusion at the last mile.