Perspective of banking agents & the Role of Aadhaar enabled payment system

Preface:

This report aims to advance the understanding of India's agent banking model, an intervention deemed to be the most effective means of achieving financial inclusion across the developing world. Also, it helps understand the critical role that Aadhaar, India's digital identity system is playing in furthering the agent banking ecosystem in the coutry.

Ddespite the acknowledged importance of agent banking, limited research explains ground level practices and challenges backed by data. This report provides insights from the ground level based on disaggregated primary data from a specific rural setting. It helps form a fresh perspective on agent banking.

Based on extensive fieldwork spanning approximately 1000 person-days across 301 locations, this report presents operational practices and sentiments of the banking agenst as well as the financial behaviour and preferences of rural banking clientele. It also provides inisghts on rural banking clientele's adoption and use of the Aadhaar enabled payment system (AePS)