Financial Inclusion for Viksit Bharat: Innovations, Evidence and Pathways Toward Equitable Development

This interdisciplinary edited volume offers a timely and authoritative exploration of how inclusive finance can serve as a transformative lever in India’s journey toward becoming a developed nation by 2047.  drive equitable growth in India and beyond. It brings together eleven contributions from leading academics, policymakers, and practitioners, offering conceptual, empirical, and policy-oriented insights. The book expands conventional debates by foregrounding marginalized groups—such as persons with disabilities, women, smallholder farmers, the elderly, and informal workers—as central to financial inclusion. It combines global and national perspectives with grassroots evidence, examining topics including India’s G20-driven digital finance diplomacy, digital public infrastructure (Aadhaar, UPI, PMJDY, DBT), financial innovation for financial inclusion and socioeconomic development, financial literacy for trust-building, retirement planning, disability-inclusive finance, post-pandemic gender gaps in digital finance, the role of FinTech in shaping access to informal credit, industrialization and digital financial inclusion for growth, crop insurance, and the role of microfinance in financial inclusion and economic development.  Organized into three thematic sections, the volume situates India’s experience in the global discourse, examines national frameworks and life-stage needs, and highlights sectoral and regional pathways through surveys, econometric analysis, and case-based studies. A unique contribution is the pioneering of some important policy-oriented concepts, such as Disability Financial Inclusion Index, National Disability Financial Inclusion Strategy and National Financial Literacy Integration Mission. This timely resource will benefit scholars, students, regulators, practitioners, and international organizations by providing evidence-based recommendations and globally relevant strategies for advancing equity, empowerment, and sustainable financial inclusion. leading economists, policymakers, and field researchers to provide a comprehensive, evidence-based examination of financial inclusion across four thematic pillars: global frameworks and national strategies; life-cycle and demographic inclusion; community-driven models; and cross-country/regional insights. Emphasising on inclusion at the margins, rural women, persons with disabilities, informal workers, the elderly, and small farmers, this volume expands the boundaries of financial inclusion to address equity, participation, and trust.  Drawing from a rich mix of empirical methods econometric modeling, structuralist macro frameworks, and grassroots-level fieldwork, it covers a wide range of underexplored topics: post-pandemic gender gaps in digital finance, the role of FinTech in informal credit, financial literacy for trust-building, SHG vs. MFI empowerment models, and India's leadership on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and the G20 Financial Inclusion agenda. It also pioneers new tools like a proposed Disability Financial Inclusion Index.  It is beneficial for scholars and students in economics, development studies, public policy, and finance, the book also serves as a practical guide for policymakers, regulators, development practitioners, and international agencies. Its policy recommendations are rooted in local realities from regions like the Sundarbans and Jalgaon, while offering globally relevant insights through SAARC-level and cross-country comparisons.