Swati Mehta

Swati is a development sector researcher and consultant with 15 years of experience advising businesses, international development organizations, and governments toward inclusive digital development. Her areas of specialization include digital financial inclusion, women's economic empowerment, financial capability, and consumer protection. Swati's work spans developing market economies in Asia and Africa, researching these topics at global and sectoral levels, and across development and humanitarian settings. She has worked extensively in India, Kenya, Jordan, the Philippines, and Germany.

A key focus of her work has been assisting financial sector stakeholders in expanding access for underserved groups such as rural households, women, migrants, and forcibly displaced persons. This involves empirical qualitative research, policy analysis, knowledge management, and advisory to development and financial institutions to enhance client-centric services.

Swati holds a PhD in Economic Geography, where she conducted qualitative longitudinal research on the financial inclusion of refugees in Jordan. She is an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and spent two years with GIZ in Germany, where she conducted financial diaries-based research with refugees and asylum seekers and supported the development of the Roadmap for Financial Inclusion of Forcibly Displaced Persons.

In her previous role as a financial inclusion consultant, Swati supported various financial institutions, including microfinance companies, rural banks, payment service providers, and agent network aggregators. She worked with GIZ in India, piloting a women banking agents model, which has now been scaled up across the country.