Digital Financial Inclusion, SME Resilience, and Platform-Based Competitiveness: A Comparative Institutional Analysis of India and Brazil

Abstract

This article examines how digital financial inclusion influences SME resilience, market participation, and regional competitiveness through a comparative institutional analysis of India and Brazil. The study argues that digital payment infrastructures, fintech regulation, platform-based credit systems, and institutional governance capacity jointly determine whether digital finance improves enterprise productivity or reproduces structural exclusion. India and Brazil are selected because both represent large emerging economies with substantial informal sectors, rapid fintech adoption, and state-led financial inclusion strategies, yet they differ in governance architecture, payment infrastructure design, and SME policy coordination. Drawing on World Bank Global Findex evidence, IMF financial access indicators, OECD SME digitalization research, UNCTAD digital economy reports, and peer-reviewed literature, the article demonstrates that India’s public digital infrastructure model has expanded payment access and platform participation, while Brazil’s central bank-led Pix system has strengthened transactional inclusion and competitive pressure in financial services. However, both cases reveal persistent constraints related to credit access, data governance, digital skills, informality, and regional inequality. The findings indicate that digital financial inclusion improves SME resilience only when institutional governance, interoperability, consumer protection, and productive capability policies are integrated. This article contributes to business and economics scholarship by developing a governance-centered framework linking digital finance, SME transformation, market This article examines how digital financial inclusion influences SME resilience, market participation, and regional competitiveness through a comparative institutional analysis of India and Brazil. The study argues that digital payment infrastructures, fintech regulation, platform-based credit systems, and institutional governance capacity jointly determine whether digital finance improves enterprise productivity or reproduces structural exclusion. India and Brazil are selected because both represent large emerging economies with substantial informal sectors, rapid fintech adoption, and state-led financial inclusion strategies, yet they differ in governance architecture, payment infrastructure design, and SME policy coordination. Drawing on World Bank Global Findex evidence, IMF financial access indicators, OECD SME digitalization research, UNCTAD digital economy reports, and peer-reviewed literature, the article demonstrates that India’s public digital infrastructure model has expanded payment access and platform participation, while Brazil’s central bank-led Pix system has strengthened transactional inclusion and competitive pressure in financial services. However, both cases reveal persistent constraints related to credit access, data governance, digital skills, informality, and regional inequality. The findings indicate that digital financial inclusion improves SME resilience only when institutional governance, interoperability, consumer protection, and productive capability policies are integrated. This article contributes to business and economics scholarship by developing a governance-centered framework linking digital finance, SME transformation, market