Institute for Money, Technology & Financial Inclusion

This is the 2-page executive summary for the IMTFI Working Paper: Effects of Mobile Money on the Savings Practices of Low-Income Users - the Indian Experience by Mani Nandhi.

In 2011, 65% of India’s population did not have access to a bank account. Nevertheless, India’s socalled “unbanked” save by other means for everyday expenditures and emergencies. Traditional forms of saving include leaving money in gulaks (Fig. 1), with trusted friends or relatives, or in savings clubs. Many of these practices, however, are often risky or inefficient.

From Ghana to Papua New Guinea, mobile money services have emerged as a safer and more efficient savings mechanism. Mobile money provides a means of financial inclusion for the unbanked. In India, there are now six mobile money services enabling banking at very low cost.