Digital divide: Are we leaving our senior citizens behind?

Much of this transition has been lauded for its ability to bring the unbanked into the formal banking system and for making financial transactions seamless, transparent, and accessible. However, this transformation has not been uniformly experienced across demographics and population. One segment that remains noticeably absent in this digital narrative is India’s elderly population. As the financial system becomes increasingly digitised, it raises a pressing question: are our senior citizens unintentionally being excluded from the financial mainstream?

For most of India’s elderly, the shift to digital finance is not just a change in interface; it is a fundamental disruption of the way they have interacted with money throughout their lives. Unlike younger generations who are digital natives, seniors have historically relied on physical bank branches, handwritten passbooks, face-to-face banking, and cash-based transactions. 

The logic and language of digital finance—OTPs, QR codes, biometric authentication, mobile wallets—are often alien to them. A large portion of this population struggles with using smartphones, navigating banking apps, or understanding digital financial products. These difficulties are not merely a result of unfamiliarity, but also of fear — fear of doing something wrong, of irreversible errors, and most importantly, of getting trapped in a financial fraud.

The increasing prevalence of cyber scams and digital frauds targeting the elderly exacerbates this fear. In the absence of clear knowledge or digital financial literacy to verify transactions, seniors often become vulnerable to phishing attacks, impersonation scams, and social engineering techniques. 

Rather than being empowered by the digital system, many choose to withdraw from it entirely, preferring to rely on family members or informal intermediaries—a dependence that can compromise both financial autonomy and privacy. Ironically, even as digital systems are designed to improve access, they can inadvertently create new forms of marginalisation when user design assumes a uniform level of digital competence.

This issue becomes more urgent when we consider the growing demographic weight of India’s elderly. According to the Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections for India and States 2011-2036, there were nearly 138 million elderly persons in India in 2021 (67 million males and 71 million females) and is further expected to increase by around 56 million elderly persons in 2031. This is not a small or peripheral demographic. In fact, it represents a population with diverse financial needs: managing pensions, health expenses, savings, insurance, and wealth transfers. 

Therefore, this segment’s digital exclusion has implications not only for personal well-being but also for broader questions of economic participation and social justice. Inaccessibility to digital banking systems can deny the elderly their financial independence, often forcing them to rely on others for even routine transactions. It is not uncommon to find elderly persons unable to withdraw their pensions due to biometric mismatches or to access welfare entitlements due to failed Aadhaar authentication, particularly in rural areas where digital infrastructure remains patchy.

This phenomenon of exclusion is shaped not only by technological barriers but also by institutional neglect sometimes. While there has been significant emphasis on digital financial literacy in recent years, especially for school students, SHG women, and small entrepreneurs, the elderly remain largely invisible in the design of financial inclusion programmes. Government campaigns and fintech innovations rarely cater to the specific cognitive, physical, and experiential needs of senior citizens. There is a clear gap in policy framework — one that treats digital finance as a tool of progress but forgets to ask: who gets left behind in this progress?

The interfaces of most fintech applications, for instance, are not designed with the elderly in mind. Small text sizes, multiple verification steps within short time spans, lack of voice navigation, and complex user flows all act as deterrents. Furthermore, the overreliance on mobile-only platforms and the gradual withdrawal of physical banking infrastructure— such as closure of branches or reduction of front-desk support —have made it more difficult for seniors to get assisted financial help. While many urban youths welcome a “digital-only” future, for the elderly, this signals a future which is not comfortable for them.

The structural exclusion of seniors from digital finance also intersects with other vulnerabilities. For instance, elderly women, who may have historically had less interaction with formal financial institutions due to patriarchal control over finances, face even greater obstacles. Rural elderly individuals encounter not only a lack of digital skills but also poor network connectivity, inadequate digital infrastructure, and language barriers. This reveals the layered and intersectional nature of the digital divide, where age compounds other existing inequalities of gender, geography and class.

Also Read: Public digital infrastructure must bridge every digital divide

Financial inclusion

Addressing this divide requires more than individual upskilling or sensitisation; it demands a systemic overhaul in the way we conceptualise financial inclusion efforts. Designing accessible fintech tools, simplifying authentication processes, providing alternative verification methods for seniors, and ensuring that helplines and customer support services are elder-friendly are essential steps. At a policy level, financial inclusion frameworks must acknowledge the elderly as a priority demographic. 

Regulatory bodies like the RBI and Sebi could mandate accessibility standards for financial service providers and encourage the development of products specifically tailored for older users. At the community level, local bodies and banks can collaborate with NGOs and senior citizens to conduct regular digital literacy camps and offer assisted services.

Moreover, public sector banks and post offices—institutions that continue to command trust among the elderly—can play a pivotal role. Instead of phasing out their physical operations in the name of digitisation, they can adopt a hybrid approach where both digital and assisted modes co-exist. “Bank Mitras” or financial facilitators trained to support the elderly can bridge the gap between systems and users, ensuring that no one is excluded for lack of digital fluency.

As India prepares for a demographic transition towards an ageing society, the idea of financial inclusion must evolve to reflect this reality. The current trajectory of digital finance runs the risk of reinforcing a silent exclusion—one where seniors, despite being financially active and deserving of independent access, are rendered invisible in the architecture of digital systems. This is not simply a matter of access to technology; it is a question of rights, dignity, and economic citizenship.

Also Read: Women’s financial literacy: What India can learn from Australia, Rwanda, Japan

Inclusion, if it is to be meaningful, must account for the diversity of users it seeks to serve. It must acknowledge that digital finance, while transformative, is not neutral—it privileges certain forms of literacy, certain bodies, and certain speeds of comprehension. Unless deliberate efforts are made to create age-inclusive financial ecosystems, the promise of India’s digital revolution will remain partial and uneven. The goal of an inclusive financial future can truly be achieved if the very people who laid the foundations of the present, our senior citizens, are not left behind and made to digitally participate and harness its benefits.

C.S. Mohapatra is the chair professor, IEPF and Depannita Ghosh is a research analyst, IEPF, National Council of Applied Economic Research.