Sanjaya Kumar Lenka|Rajesh Barik
Has expansion of mobile phone and internet use spurred financial inclusion in the SAARC countries?
CUTS International|Indian Institute of Technology Indore
exclusion mainstream financial world burden poor many countries proliferation new mobile online financial services ebanking money transfers payment processing potential provide access basic financial products services financially excluded people purpose study investigate effects growth mobile phone internet use financial inclusion south asian association regional cooperation saarc countries 2004 2014 applied principal component analysis construct financial inclusion index served proxy variable accessibility financial services saarc countries using three different modelsthe fixed effect random effect panel correction standard errors modelsthis study discovered positive significant relationship growth financial inclusion expansion mobile phone internet services moreover empirical study control variables showed levels income education positively associated financial inclusion whereas size rural population unemployment negatively related financial inclusion addition empirical estimates posit unidirectional causal flow growth mobile internet services expanded financial inclusion saarc countries