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India’s efforts to achieve large-scale financial inclusion are challenged by growing concerns related to the stability and profitability of the overall banking system. Although a rising dependence on digital finance and the acceptability of wallet-based payments was also visible during the post-demonetisation era and the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, issues related to bank stability and profitability could be addressed through the extension of digital financial services (DFS), making the system more transparent and resilient to internal as well as external perturbations.

The study provides empirical evidence to support the bank digitalisation and extension of DFS to achieve financial inclusion. The impact of digital finance, macroeconomic aspects and microprudential factors (bank specific) on stability is examined for selected Indian banks using quarterly observations spanning 2011Q1–2020Q4. The relationship between banking stability (measured through z-score and Sharpe ratio) is established with digitalisation factors using the instrumental variable regression two-stage least square -based panel regression. Robustness is tested using panel vector autoregression models.

Digital transactions including mobile banking, National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) prove vital and significant in establishing stable banking activity in the Indian context across both public and private banking institutions. Access to broadband services provides a positive impetus in this direction. These issues could be addressed through the extension of DFS making the system more transparent and resilient to internal as well as external perturbations. As an implication, the adoption of innovative means of transaction could empower the financially excluded sections of society.

The novelty of this study is to bring the discussion of digitalisation and bank stability (riskiness) in the Indian context to light. As the first of its kind, this study paves the way for providing an empirical justification for promoting and achieving bank stability through digitalisation in the era of post-demonetisation and Covid-19.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the deficit–inflation nexus in the two fastest growing economies, India and China, which happen to be crucial affiliates of the global growth generator countries apart from their association in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

The paper uses the prism of the vector auto regression framework, for the period 1985–1986 to 2016–2017 for both India and China. For this purpose, gross fiscal deficit, money supply, exchange rate, crude oil prices and output gap are examined as the key elements in the determination of inflation. The econometric framework used chiefly comprises of cointegration analysis, vector error correction model, Granger causality and impulse response functions.

The findings of this paper support the hypothesis that fiscal deficits are inflationary only in the Indian context and that the Ricardian equivalence cannot be negated for China at least in the short run. The results presented in the paper are a little agnostic about whether New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) explains the inflation dynamics in India, given that both inflation inertia and output gap are not robust. However, for the Chinese economy, NKPC along with structural theory is instrumental in describing trends pertaining to inflation during the period of the study.

The paper warrants broader policy framework to aim at addressing structural bottlenecks to ensure non-inflationary growth keeping in mind the structural views on inflation. Furthermore, the paper fosters greater synthesis between monetary and fiscal policies, especially considering the global economic disruptions the world economy is subject to.

Considering there are only a limited number of studies on fiscal deficit of China, the present paper is of paramount significance in terms of growing concern over the sustainability of the growth process in China. Additionally, the paper is first-of-its-kind attempt to account the effectiveness of a healthy monetary–fiscal interface in achieving macroeconomic stability in India and China.