IDFC Bank is among India’s first private-sector banks to pilot digital financial services that leverage the country’s new Aadhaar-enabled payment systems (AEPS), which makes digital money more accessible and practical for everyday transactions than ever before. Now, to do anything from receiving government payments to buying groceries, all a customer in Royyuru needs is a unique Aadhaar identity number and fingerprint to authenticate the transaction.

This photo essay follows residents and the businesses they visit daily. They document a mini-ATM transaction, fair-price shop’s point-of-sale device and a bakery using a smartphone app pay option. These services allow for simpler authentication, easier access to agents, lower transaction costs and greater efficiency in government services.