India has achieved one of the most significant financial inclusion transformations in modern history. Adult account ownership has increased from 53% in 2014 to approximately 89% in 2024, supported by the country’s robust digital public infrastructure (DPI), including the world’s largest real-time payments system that processes more than 242 billion transactions a year.
However, access alone does not guarantee strong financial outcomes. As India advances toward its vision of Viksit Bharat to move from ‘welfare to wealth creation’ by 2047, the next opportunity is to ensure these achievements translate into better financial health for households.
H.M. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA), visited India from 23–25 June 2026. During her visit, she witnessed firsthand how India is building on its financial access success to strengthen financial health outcomes for individuals and households, engaging with senior government officials, regulators, financial institutions, development partners, tech leaders, and financial services customers.
Identifying the Challenges
Managing day-to-day finances remains a challenge for many households in India. Despite rapid economic growth, nearly 87% of India’s workforce remains in the informal economy where incomes are often seasonal, irregular, and unpredictable, making it difficult for families to manage expenses, save consistently, or plan for the future.
At the same time, many households remain financially vulnerable to unexpected expenses and income disruptions. Approximately a third of the population experience financial hardship due to out-of-pocket health expenditures, while floods, droughts, heatwaves, and other climate-related shocks continue to threaten livelihoods and household stability. Over 380 million workers are estimated to be exposed to excessive heat, with economic losses estimated at approximately USD 141 billion in 2023, or 4–5% of India’s GDP.
Preparing financially for the future is another challenge. India is entering a period of demographic change, with the population aged 60 and above projected to more than double by 2050. While pension coverage has expanded through initiatives such as the National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana, only 12% of the population currently accesses pension products, and millions of informal sector workers, many of whom are women, have yet to start saving for their retirement and long-term financial security.
Scams and fraud are also becoming more complex. Three in five adults experienced a scam in the past year, and nearly one in four reported financial losses. For many households, particularly first-time users, women, migrants, older persons, and lower-income consumers, even relatively small losses can have serious financial consequences.
Policy Dialogues and Outcomes
During the visit, the UNSGSA held high-level meetings with the Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, government ministries, and development partners to discuss how financial health can support India’s broader development ambitions.
During a roundtable discussion co-hosted by Mastercard and the UNSGSA, CEOs and senior executives examined the business case for financial health and how improving customer outcomes can strengthen trust, deepen engagement, and support sustainable growth. A discussion hosted by Flourish Ventures and the IFC explored how AI and emerging technologies can help households save, invest, and make better financial decisions. Another roundtable with CGAP on women’s financial health identified opportunities to ensure that gains in women’s financial inclusion translate into greater economic resilience and agency.
The UNSGSA and India’s UN Resident Coordinator also hosted a discussion on how DPI innovations such as Account Aggregator, the Unified Lending Interface, MahaVISTAAR, and AI-enabled services can support better financial outcomes for households. During a session with the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA) and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the UNSGSA observed demonstrations of emerging solutions to combat digital fraud and scams.
Furthermore, Her Majesty participated in a Demo Day hosted by the Gates Foundation in collaboration with IIMA Ventures, showcasing how some of India's leading fintech innovators are leveraging technology to improve financial health for women and underserved populations. The programme also featured a fireside chat between the UNSGSA and Archna Vyas, the Director of the Gates Foundation India Country Office, and Foundation staff on opportunities to advance financial health.
These conversations reinforced that India has already built many of the foundations needed to improve financial health at scale. The next step is to ensure that these systems intentionally support better financial outcomes for individuals and families.
Client Stories
A central part of the visit was meeting Indian consumers and hearing directly how financial services are shaping their lives.
The UNSGSA visited Jupiter Money, a neobank focused on financial health, where users shared how budgeting tools, goal-based savings features, spending insights, and investment products are helping them better manage their day-to-day finances, build savings, and plan more confidently for future goals.
She also met young nurses using SalarySe’s workplace financial health platform, who described how access to emergency funds, savings tools, financial coaching, and personalized guidance has helped them cope with unexpected expenses, reduce financial stress, and strengthen their financial resilience.
In addition, the UNSGSA spoke with domestic workers and golf caddies participating in the National Pension System (NPS) through Universal Pensions. After spending decades in the informal economy with little opportunity to save for retirement, they explained how simple and flexible pension products, often complemented by employer contributions, are enabling them to build long-term financial security and retire with greater dignity, stability, and peace of mind.
Jupiter Money: an all-in-one app for better financial health
SalarySe: Improving Workplace Financial Health
Universal Pensions: a more secure future for India’s informal workers
Key priorities
Following the country visit, the UNSGSA identified six strategic priorities to strengthen financial health and improve financial outcomes for Indian households.
- Digital Public Infrastructure for Financial Health
From better access to government services to greater financial inclusion for women, more efficient public spending, and creating a vibrant fintech ecosystem, DPI in India provides a foundation for better financial health. It has also helped advance the Government of India’s broader agenda to formalize the economy by bringing more individuals and enterprises into the formal financial system. The next opportunity is to leverage the next generation of DPI to improve household financial health while ensuring privacy, consent, consumer protection, and inclusion.
- Jan Dhan 2.0: From Financial Inclusion to Financial Health
India has brought more than 550 million people into the formal financial system through the national financial inclusion initiative, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). Building on this remarkable achievement, Jan Dhan could be used as a platform to encourage more active and beneficial use of financial services, enhance consumer protection, and expand access to savings, insurance, pensions, and productive credit.
- Measuring Financial Health
India has become a global leader in measuring financial inclusion through the RBI Financial Inclusion Index and an extensive ecosystem of household surveys and administrative datasets. The next step is to develop an India-specific framework for measuring financial health that would support more evidence-based policymaking and support accountability for outcomes.
- Making the Business Case for Financial Health
Financially healthy customers are more likely to save regularly, repay loans, maintain insurance coverage, invest for the future, and engage with formal financial institutions over time. This is an important opportunity for India’s financial sector. Throughout the visit, banks, insurers, fintechs, employers, and tech companies highlighted how improving customers’ financial health can be a competitive advantage, driving customer engagement and retention, innovation, and sustainable long-term growth.
- Women’s Financial Health
India has made remarkable progress in advancing women’s financial inclusion. The next challenge is to translate access into economic agency and long-term financial security. This includes supporting the active use of savings, insurance, pensions, and productive credit, creating more intuitive, suitable, and accessible financial products and services, and strengthening the collection and use of gender-disaggregated data to better understand women’s financial outcomes. The UNSGSA highlighted the importance of helping women-led nano- and micro-enterprises access safe and appropriate productive credit that supports income generation while maintaining strong safeguards against over-indebtedness.
- Responsible Digital Finance and Consumer Protection
Fraud, scams, and weak grievance redress mechanisms can undermine financial health and discourage participation in the formal financial system. Continued efforts to strengthen consumer protection, responsible innovation, effective redress of grievances, and AI-enabled fraud prevention will help ensure that digital financial services remain safe, trusted, and beneficial for all users.
UNSGSA Partners in India
UNSGSA Reference Group members who were part of the delegation included the World Bank, Gates Foundation, Flourish Ventures, CGAP, and Better Than Cash Alliance. The UNSGSA was supported by additional partners during the visit, including the United Nations in India, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Dalberg, MSC, the International Finance Corporation, EkStep Foundation, IIMA Ventures, and the Embassy of the Netherlands in India.