Dr. Hemant Adarkar authored a chapter titled ‘The Cultural Aspects of Digital Transformation’ in the book, Prelude to a Digital Future (Digital India Foundation, 2022), edited by Osama Manzar. The edited volume is based on an array of virtual roundtable discussions organized by Digital Empowerment Foundation in partnership with Facebook (Meta) between September, 2021 and December, 2021. The discussions were aimed at exploring the trajectories of rural economic development through digital capacity of enterprise and entrepreneurship.

In his chapter, Hemant focuses on the cultural impediments to digital financial inclusion in India. Only a small elite minority in India has access to formal credit; the remaining are in the informal sector. The task at hand is to extend formal credit opportunities to the next billion population. Issues of data privacy, security and digital literacy need to be addressed to effect a cultural shift in how people think of digital financial transactions.

Read the chapter here: https://bit.ly/3QsMuUo