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Open Banking and Digital Payments: Implications for Credit Access
By Shashwat Alok, Pulak Ghosh, Nirupama Kulkarni, Manju Puri
Citation
Alok, Shashwat., Ghosh, Pulak., Kulkarni, Nirupama., Puri, Manju. (2025). Open Banking and Digital Payments: Implications for Credit Access .
Copyright
2025
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Abstract
In 2016, India launched its open payment infrastructure, Unified Payment Interface (UPI), providing a unique experimental context. Exploiting time variation in UPI across regions, we use a difference-in-differences empirical design and show a significant increase in both margins of credit access. Consistent with financial inclusion, the credit increases to subprime and new-to-credit customers. Notably, the credit increase to new-to-credit customers is led by Fintech lenders compared to traditional banks and is more extensive in ex-ante financially excluded regions. Our results inform the policy debate on the impact of open banking on expanding financial access.
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Shashwat Alok

Shashwat Alok is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Indian School of Business (ISB). He joined ISB in 2013 after receiving his PhD in Finance from the Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently the Research Director at the Digital Identity Research Initiative.

His primary research interests are in the areas of corporate finance. In particular, his research focuses on understanding the impact of the law, government policy, and institutions on firms and individual behaviour, with a greater focus on emerging markets. His recent work seeks to examine the role of alternative data and fintech in expanding financial inclusion, and the impact of climate change on firms and capital allocation.

Professor Alok is the recipient of multiple prestigious grants, and his work has been accepted at leading international conferences such as those hosted by the American Finance Association, the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research, the European Finance Association, and the Financial Intermediation Research Society. His research has been published or accepted in top academic journals such as the Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. Prof Alok's research has been cited by the Indian Economic Survey (2018-2019) and the Reserve Bank of India's Household Finance Committee Report (2017). His research has also featured in major Indian media outlets, including the Economic Times and the Times of India.

Before joining the PhD programme, he graduated among the top of his class in Computer Science and Engineering from the Manipal University. He was the recipient of the Hubert C. Moog Scholar for academic excellence while pursuing his PhD at the Washington University in St Louis.

Shashwat Alok