Tech triumph or literacy lapse? The intersecting narratives of financial inclusion efficiency, sustainable development goals, and technology

The goal of inclusive development places financial inclusion at the forefront of sovereign development policies, particularly in economies that are investing in digital technologies. Despite the world’s progression towards technology, there is minimal empirical evidence of how efficient these inclusion policies are and how potent literacy is as a moderator to assess the broad development. This study attempts to address this gap by integrating inclusion efficiency analysis with development metrics. The purpose of such integration is to explore the impact of Financial Inclusion Efficiency (FIE) on UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) realisation. This study employs Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and dynamic panel regression on a dataset of twenty-eight Indian states and three union territories for a time span of 2018–2023. Empirical findings reflect that FIE has a significant positive impact on SDG attainment; however, financial literacy as a moderator displays an insignificant impact. The result suggests that access to technological infrastructure supersedes financial literacy. The research contributes to existing literature by reflecting on financial outcomes through the efficiency lens, which diverges from the traditional index-based approach, like Global Findex. The evidence-based findings can be leveraged by policymakers, highlighting the urgency of developing tech-based solutions to address inclusion gaps and advance 2030 sustainable growth agendas.