Sharp surge in number of rural women able to do online banking, UPI a key enabler
More women in rural areas are able to conduct online banking transactions, with a new survey by the statistics ministry showing that the proportion of females that could perform them surged to 30.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2025, sharply higher than 17.1 per cent in 2022-23.
According to the results of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation's Comprehensive Modular Survey: Telecom, 2025, released Friday, there has been a marked increase in the number of Indians in rural areas who have been engaging in online banking, with the rise being particularly noteworthy among young women. As per the survey's results, 51.4 per cent of females in rural areas in the 15-24 years age bracket reported the ability to perform online banking transactions, more than double the 19.6 per cent in 2022-23 as per the ministry's Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey for 2022-23 (July-June), released in October 2024.
To be sure, a higher proportion of rural men, too, said they could do online banking, with the figure for those in the 15-24 years age bracket rising to 73.3 per cent from 40.2 per cent in 2022-23.
The statistics ministry did not test or check the skills reported by the respondents while conducting the survey.
In urban areas, where online banking penetration levels were higher to begin with, the increase was of a smaller magnitude, with 62.4 per cent of respondents aged 15 years and above saying they engaged in online banking, up from 50.6 per cent in 2022-23. At the all-India level, 48.9 per cent of persons aged 15 years and above said they could conduct online banking transactions, up from 37.8 per cent in 2022-23.
The survey, part of the 80th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS), was conducted in the first three months of 2025 and covered the entire country except for some villages in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The total number of households surveyed was 34,950 – 19,071 in rural areas and 15,879 in urban areas – while the total number of persons contacted was 1.42 lakh, with 82,573 in rural areas and 59,492 in urban areas.
The increased adoption of online banking, especially in rural areas, will be a boost to the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), with the authorities having pushed heavily on financial inclusion over the last couple of decades. In its annual report for 2024-25 (April-March) released on Thursday, the RBI said it will conduct a survey on the usage of digital payments in the current fiscal. Findings from the survey will be used to further enhance financial inclusion and make payment systems more effective, the central bank said.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) was the clear leader when it came to the channel through which Indians are conducting online banking, with 86.7 per cent of those in rural areas and 74.4 per cent in urban using only UPI for the same. Only 18.0 per cent of Indians aged 15 years or more used UPI, internet banking., and other channels.
The statistics ministry also sought responses on households' online purchases, specifically for goods. As per the survey, 24.5 per cent of Indian households bought something online in the previous 30 days, with the figure being 16.0 per cent for rural households and 39.4 per cent for urban.
Among those urban households which did make online purchases in the prior month, 52.4 per cent bought both food and non-food items, while 37.6 per cent bought only non-food goods. In rural areas, the purchase of non-food items was more prevalent, with 75.7 per cent of respondents buying only them.
Underpinning the growth in online banking and purchases has been the prevalence of mobile phones and access to internet, with as many as 85.7 per cent of respondents aged 15 years or more having used a mobile phone in the three months prior to the survey, with 70.2 per cent of respondents owning a mobile phone at the time the survey was conducted.
Mobile phone ownership was higher in urban areas (81.2 per cent versus 64.6 per cent in rural) and among men. In January-March 2025, 83.9 per cent of males surveyed owned a mobile phone compared to 56.2 per cent females. At 79.9 per cent, most mobile phone owners possessed a smartphone, with more than 90 per cent of Indians in both rural and urban areas under the age of 29 owning a smartphone.
As would be expected from the wider adoption of online banking and purchases, the use of internet has also increased in the last couple of years, especially in rural areas: 57.6 per cent of females and 72.1 per cent of males, respectively, used the internet in the three months before the survey, up from 42.6 per cent and 59.5 per cent in 2022-23. Almost 93 per cent of respondents who used the internet in the three months prior to the survey did so at least once a day, with mobile phones overwhelmingly favoured.
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