Created by Yeshaswi and Gayathri
In rural India, women often store valuables in the palloo of their sarees, a cultural practice symbolizing trust and security. Yet, only 24% of Indian women are financially literate compared to 35% of men (NCFE, 2017). With over 48% of India’s rural population being female, we saw an opportunity to empower them with financial knowledge and tools. Palloo Paise is our attempt to bridge this gap, combining cultural resonance with innovative technology to make financial literacy accessible to every woman.
Palloo Paise is a mobile app designed for rural women to learn, grow, and manage their finances seamlessly. Key features include:
- Financial Literacy Lessons: Beginner-friendly tutorials with read-aloud functionality for differently-abled users.
- Government Schemes Awareness: Highlights financial assistance programs for women with steps to apply, benefits, and links to official sites.
- Expense Tracker: Tracks income and expenses while generating easy-to-read financial reports.
- Offline and Multilingual Support: Provides lessons in multiple languages, accessible even without internet connectivity.
- Voice Navigation: Simplifies app usage for users with limited technical expertise.
The app is designed with an intuitive UI, using icons to make navigation effortless for elderly and non-tech-savvy individuals.
We built Palloo Paise using:
- React Native: For a cross-platform, responsive frontend.
- Firebase Authentication and Firestore: For secure user authentication and data storage.
- Expo: To streamline development and deployment.
Our design focuses on accessibility, simplicity, and inclusivity to cater to rural and differently-abled users.
- Designing an interface simple enough for elderly users while maintaining modern functionality.
- Implementing offline capabilities for multilingual lessons to reach remote areas.
- Compiling accurate and verified information on government schemes and financial literacy content.
- Successfully integrating voice navigation and read-aloud features for increased accessibility.
- Creating a comprehensive government schemes section with direct links for easy access.
- Building a lightweight app that works efficiently in offline environments.
- The importance of user-centric design when catering to diverse and underserved demographics.
- Effective ways to integrate AI-driven tools and multilingual support for inclusivity.
- Deep insights into financial literacy gaps and how to address them meaningfully.
We plan to expand Palloo Paise with:
- AI-Driven Investment Education: Personalized workflows to simplify investments.
- Budget Planners and Financial Tools: To provide deeper insights into user finances.
- Community Section: A platform for women to grow their businesses and connect with a sisterhood.
- Paise AI Agent: For coin counting and personalized financial advice.
- Newsletters on Financial Scams: A read-aloud feature to keep users informed and vigilant.
Palloo Paise envisions a future where rural women are financially literate, empowered, and ready to achieve their dreams with confidence.