Adoption of AI-enabled Digital Banking Empowering Informal Women-Led MSMEs in Mumbai Suburbs

Abstract The research study seeks to investigate the adoption of Artificial Intelligence enabled digital banking on micro, small and medium enterprises led by women in Mumbai suburbs. Though AI is transforming the banking and financial services by improving easy access to banking services, efficiency and security, still informal MSME’S faces lack of reach of such services due to various infant stages especially among women entrepreneurs. The proposed study aims to identify the vast potential in the MSME sector undertaken by women particularly in Mumbai suburbs. The area under study have limited access to digital banking and financial services. Though MSMEs form the backbone of developing and developed nations, yet there is a constant barrier in adopting digital banking services. This paper investigates the transformative role of AI enabling for easy digital banking accessibility in their day-to-day financial transactions especially cross-sectional groups. The study evaluates the readiness of technology adoption, organizational compatibility and perceived trust with special reference TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) integration in women-led MSMEs. The study explores the level of awareness about AI it is ways to AI adoption, and enabling factors in it and its outcome on MSMEs performance. Adoption correlates positively with women entrepreneurs, digital literacy, access to finance and supportive local networks. The research study more specific to the Mumbai suburban area. Most of the MSMEs run by women entrepreneurship are informal in doing business. They lack proper documentation related to their business and financial transactions. Sometime this may lead to bias. Due to the current significant development of Artificial Intelligence in the financial sector the research study related to adoption may tend to shift to other newer features. The study concludes by developing a comprehensive framework showing the drivers influencing the adoption of AI in digital banking among the women-led entrepreneurs. Further in the research it provides insights to the policy makers to consider the women-led entrepreneurs requirements in their financial polices Keywords: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital banking, MSME, TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) integration.