International Review of Business, Trade, and Economics
The Impact of Digital Financial Literacy on the Financial Inclusion of Rural Women Beneficiaries Utilizing Government Welfare Schemes and Services
Abstract
Saurabh Mannu Sale
The rapid proliferation of digital financial technologies across rural India has generated substantive scholarly interest regarding their transformative potential for marginalized women. This study examines the interplay between Digital Financial Literacy (DFL) and the efficacy of women-centric welfare schemes in rural Marathwada, a chronically underdeveloped agrarian region of Maharashtra. Employing a descriptive-causal quantitative design, primary data were collected from 300 rural women beneficiaries across six Marathwada districts Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Latur, Dharashiv, Nanded, Beed, and Hingoli using a bilingual, structured, five-point Likert scale questionnaire. The study operationalises DFL across four sub-dimensions: digital financial awareness, transactional proficiency, critical evaluation competency, and protective digital behaviour. Welfare scheme efficacy is conceptualized through awareness, enrollment, utilization, and perceived socio-economic empowerment. Reliability was established through Cronbach’s Alpha (α: 0.843– 0.879); construct validity was confirmed via expert review and confirmatory factor analysis. Multiple regression analysis revealed that DFL is the primary predictor of socio-economic empowerment (β = 0.341, p < .001; R2 = 0.584). Scheme enrollment (β = 0.237, p < .001) and perceived barriers (β = -0.198, p < .001) further explain outcome variance. Theoretical anchors include the Technology Acceptance Model, Human Capital Theory, the Financial Empowerment Framework, and Ndung’u’s (2025) Digital Capability Framework for Sub-Saharan contexts. Findings yield critical policy contributions regarding targeted DFL interventions, women banking correspondent deployment, and last-mile financial inclusion architecture reform in Marathwada.