Noting that women-run micro-businesses are largely invisible to merchant aggregators, a report presented at the Global Fintech Fest 2024, Wednesday, stated that 57 percent of the 2,500 women entreprenuers surveyed as part of a pilot, were not aware of UPI-based offerings. 

The first report by the ‘UPI for Her’ initiative - which is a collaborative effort by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Women’s World Banking (WWB) - states, “Despite being mature businesses, women’s micro businesses are largely undiscovered by merchant aggregators as they operate in semi-urban and rural areas. Our survey data shows that 57 percent were not aware of UPI-based offerings for merchants, 40 percent said no one reached out to them and seven percent felt their businesses were too small for the offering. This unaddressed customer base is between approximately 16-20 million.”

Lack of transparency

The report mentions a survey of 2,500 women merchants that was conducted in partnership with MobiKwik and PhonePe, where a pilot of their UPI merchant offerings was done. UPI for merchants allows businesses to offer their customers and other stakeholders streamlined business payments with instant authentication and quick receipt of transactions.

About 15 per cent of the women surveyed said they were unclear about the payments and charges by the merchant aggregator, while some were not aware of the next-day settlement feature. “Similarly, a lack of transparency in loan offerings added to their confusion,” the report added.

Further noting that these women-run micro businesses were among the 200 million women in India who owned smartphones and could be tapped for future growth of UPI, the report added, “As they comprise a sizeable segment of the population, they could be the next wave of UPI adopters.”

Fear of fraud

“There are roughly 16 million small women business owners in India, of which 95 percent run micro businesses. These women face a different challenge than the men in the same sector. The social issues and biases that they face include a fear of losing their money as they do not have confidence in the digital ecosystem yet,” said Nidhi Gupta, head of product, consumer payments, PhonePe, while speaking at the panel discussion where the report was unveiled. 

“They have fear of fraud; they do not feel empowered enough or literate enough to mange their finances. You cannot rush them into adopting the digital ecosystem. The comfort of the segment has to be kept in mind while designing the product and delivery mode of the product,” Gupta added.

The report states that women influencers within the community were more effective in onboarding women merchants, as they were better suited to overcome gender-related social barriers. The report also pointed out that a smooth onboarding process and transparency were critical for winning the confidence of women.

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