UPI boom bypasses millions of women, study finds
India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become a global success story, handling over 70% of the country's digital payments. But a new study shows that this revolution has not reached all sections of society equally, particularly women from low-income households and the informal sector.
On a busy road in Hyderabad's upscale Jubilee Hills, Pujari Lakshmi runs a tea stall where customers can pay by scanning a UPI QR code. Yet she does not know how to use the digital payment system herself. Her smartphone, held together with rubber bands, has a UPI app installed, but it is her husband or children who complete the transactions using her ID.
"Who doesn't have a bank account and a smartphone these days? But I don't know how to use UPI apps. What if the money goes to the wrong account," she asks in Telugu. Her experience is far from unique.
A new study by Hyderabad-based NGO Yugantar has found that women's adoption of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is shaped as much by trust, confidence, social norms and control over finances as by access to technology. The research, published in CSI Transactions on ICT by Springer Nature, examined the organisation's Digital Budget Rani programme, which worked with 40,552 women across 13 districts in Telangana and two in Andhra Pradesh between 2023 and 2025. The programme operated in urban, semi-urban and rural areas in partnership with the Telangana Domestic Workers' Union, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, the Mission for the Elimination of Rural Poverty and the Society for the Elimination of Rural Poverty.
The study, drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, identifies three broad trajectories in women's relationship with UPI. The first comprises users—typically younger women with higher education and greater access to technology. The other two groups are women who do not use UPI, but for very different reasons. Some non-users face structural and social barriers that prevent adoption. Others actively reject UPI due to concerns about financial control and distrust. The distinction matters, the study notes, because non-use is not simply a matter of lacking access or digital literacy.
These findings come against the backdrop of rapid UPI expansion. UPI accounted for around 70% of total digital payments in India in 2023-24, compared to 17% in 2018-19. According to a Ministry of Finance statement on March 11, 2025, total digital payment transactions grew by 46% from ₹8,839 crore in 2021-22 to ₹18,737 crore in 2023-24. Yet, the benefits of this expansion have not been experienced equally by women from marginalised communities.
The programme introduced women to two forms of UPI payments: smartphone-based applications and 123PAY, an interactive voice response (IVR) system. The latter became particularly significant for women who found app-based payments difficult, showing that technology designed around users' circumstances can make a difference.
The wider experience of the programme also showed that the digital divide is not simply about whether women possess phones. Earlier work by Budget Rani found that while 70% of women had bank accounts, access alone did not translate into digital financial inclusion. The study concludes that bridging the gender gap in UPI adoption requires more than providing technology; it requires building confidence, addressing social norms, and ensuring women have autonomy over their financial decisions.
