Digital Financial Literacy and Digital Banking Adoption among Rural Bank Customers: Evidence from Latehar District, Jharkhand, India

Background: Formal access to banking services does not necessarily translate into independent digital banking use among rural customers. Digital financial knowledge, smartphone access and connectivity constraints may influence customers’ ability to conduct digital transactions independently. Aims: This study assessed the association between objective digital financial knowledge and recent personal digital banking adoption in Latehar District, Jharkhand, India. Study Design: Cross-sectional observational analysis of rural banking customers. Place and Duration of Study: Six blocks of Latehar District, Jharkhand, India; January–February 2026. Methodology: The cross-sectional sample comprised 400 customers recruited through paper-based branch/customer-service-point intercept schedules, with a fixed allocation of 200 regional rural bank and 200 public sector commercial bank customers. Descriptive analysis, bank-group tests and logistic regression were supplemented by Firth penalisation, location adjustments and alternative specifications. Results: Personal adoption was reported by 133 customers (33.25%). Each additional correct knowledge response was associated with higher adoption odds (adjusted odds ratio 1.450, 95% confidence interval 1.197–1.757; P < .001) and an average marginal association of 6.02 percentage points. The knowledge association persisted in Firth regression and among smartphone owners. Personal smartphone access had a large but imprecise association (odds ratio 82.730, 95% confidence interval 11.164–613.071). Bank-group adoption and knowledge differences were not statistically significant (P = .071 and P = .238, respectively). Conclusion: Knowledge and access jointly characterise digital banking participation in this sample. The results support the evaluation of task-based education and access support, without establishing causal effects or district-wide prevalence.