DBS Bank India’s report titled The Digital Opportunity: Access, Adoption and Trust’ has found that over half of rural women earners in India now use unified payments interface (UPI) for financial transactions.
Reflecting perspectives of , High-Net-Worth (HNW) women and rural women earners, the study “focuses on how digitalisation is shaping the financial journeys of women across different life stages, income segments and geographies,” the release stated.
Digital tools ‘becoming increasingly integral’
“The findings of this report highlight an encouraging shift in the way women are engaging with their finances. Among female entrepreneurs, digital tools are becoming increasingly integral to business management, supporting everything from , credit and payroll to customer acquisition and future planning,” said Divyesh Dalal, MD and Country Head, Global Transaction Services, Corporate Banking, Financial Institutions and SMEs.
The report, part of the bank’s ‘Women and Finance’ series, surveyed 1,342 women across north (23%), south (36%), east (14%) and west (27%) India, and explored how in the country engage with digital payments, banking, credit and investment platforms, it added.
Women and finance: Key insights
As per the findings of the study, female entrepreneurs are the most active users of digital financial tools and platforms among all cohorts. It also found that female entrepreneurs are increasingly engaging with a wider ecosystem of digital financial tools and platforms beyond and payments. The breakdown is as follows:
- Digital payment tools are the most widely adopted, used by 84% of female entrepreneurs.
- Across cohorts, UPI continues to gain traction, with usage standing at 72% among female entrepreneurs, 77% among HNW women and 54% among rural women earners surveyed.
- Among those surveyed, 38% use and credit platforms, while 29% use brokerage platforms. Among HNW women surveyed, 28% are actively using brokerage platforms for their investments.
- Credit card usage is gaining momentum among in urban India, where 50% of the female entrepreneurs surveyed report using personal credit cards frequently, including 19% who use them daily and 31% who use them a few times a week.
- Among HNW women, credit cards are used by 53% of respondents, making them the second most-used payment method after UPI.
- -related rewards, including hotel offers, air miles, lounge access and travel insurance, are the most preferred credit card benefit among both female entrepreneurs and HNW women, cited by 65% of respondents.
- Preference for travel-related rewards is particularly pronounced among younger respondents, rising to 70% among HNW women aged 25–30 years and 68% among female entrepreneurs aged 26–35 years.
The figures reflect a “growing comfort and proficiency in using digital tools, driven by the convenience and accessibility they offer,” it said. Dalal added that sustaining this momentum requires more than traditional banking, “to create connected ecosystems that help entrepreneurs at every stage of their business journey.”
What did women earners, entrepreneurs spend on?
The report also ananlysed and identified key business expenditure areas among female entrepreneurs and rural women earners, alongside personal spending among HNW women.
- Among female entrepreneurs surveyed, spending is concentrated on people, growth and .
- Beyond staff salaries and contractor payments (65%) and marketing, branding, content creation and customer acquisition (53%), 37% report spending on software, technology tools and platforms.
- For rural women earners, expenditure is largely directed towards day-to-day business operations, with 82% reporting on raw materials, 47% on rent and 35% on transportation to market.
- Among the HNW women surveyed, spending patterns are more diversified across both essential and discretionary categories, led by groceries and daily essentials (50%), utility bills (32%), healthcare and medical expenses (28%), and travel and vacations (27%).
has been in India for over 30 years, with its first office opening in Mumbai in 1994. It is the first among the large foreign banks in India to start operating as a wholly owned, locally incorporated subsidiary of a global bank. The lender provides banking services for large, medium, and small enterprises and individual consumers in India with presence in 19 states.