Unlocking Digital Financial Inclusion on Economic Growth: Cross-country study using panel data

Abstract

The present research explores the evolving trend of Digital Financial Inclusion indicators among both men and women in the Top 5 countries by GDP, covering the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and India, for 2014, 2017 and 2021, collected in the global Findex database. This paper examines the relation between DFI among both men and women and GDP growth. Panel least squares (LS), Two-stage least Squares (2SLS) and generalised method of moments (GMM) regression were utilised to estimate the secondary data.  The proportion of both men and women who (i) possess a debit card, (ii) have used a digital payment method, (iii) have received payments digitally, (iv) have used or received a digital payment method and (v) possess a credit card is utilised to measure digital financial inclusion indicators. This trend analysis found a stable increase in the inclusion through digital financial services indicators over the period. Here, A minimal improvement is seen between the years 2014 and 2017, and 2017 and 2021, due to improvements in technology. The regression analysis results indicated a significant positive association exists between GDP economic development and inclusion through digital financial services indicators, excluding the merchant payment indicator, which was observed for both men and women. The results also indicate that digital platform usage has a positive and substantial impact on DFI in the top five nations by GDP.