The rollout of Unique Identification (known as Aadhaar or UID) numbers and cards for every Indian might be a financial inclusion game-changer by offering urban rickshaw pullers the means to meet banks' Know Your Customers (KYC) norms. Similarly, the mobile money services offered by several banks using the business correspondent (BC) model could address the financial needs of these poor migrants. These processes, however, are riddled with challenges, including behavioral changes among the rickshaw pullers, which are yet to be understood. This study attempts to use an unorthodox route of social activism cum experimental research to find answers to these concerns by providing handholding support to rickshaw pullers to facilitate their financial inclusion, while simultaneously documenting behavioral changes and the challenges they face in the transformational process to obtain access to formal financial services. 

Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum located in Mumbai, India, is home to a large number of thriving small-scale industries. Given the high volume of unrecorded transactions in such enterprises, the digitization of transactions is essential to achieving inclusive financial growth in India. Despite attempted efforts to readjust the system of financial transaction towards a more digitized form, cash still remains the predominant mode of transaction among Dharavi’s enterprises. Before introducing future innovations it is crucial to recognize which systems would be best suited by understanding targeted users’ perceptions about electronic transactions as complementary tools in terms of speed, convenience, and reliability; what the level of acceptability and trust is amongst users; and if regulatory innovations and existing infrastructures for electronic transactions support the needs of the clients. This report utilizes an ethnographic and experimental approach to find answers to these concerns by understanding the movement of cash transactions in detail, for three types of industries (small, medium and large) in Dharavi.