Gayatri Murthy

Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Gayatri Murthy leads CGAP’s work on building country-level approaches to improving women’s financial inclusion. Previously she led work on platform worker livelihoods and inclusive fintech. Her work has focused on improving research methods to better understand the lives of low-income people, so that emerging insights better transform policy, private sector and funding. She also specializes in training financial institutions to build customer-centric business models and has trained staff of financial institutions in workshops around the world, including at trainings organized by the Boulder Institute for Microfinance, the Social Performance Task Force, and the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance.

Before joining CGAP, Gayatri worked for 6 years in market research in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. She began her career at GiveIndia, a platform to promote efficient and effective giving in India.

Gayatri has a Master’s degree in International Communication from the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India. She is fluent in Hindi

By Gayatri Murthy

Blog

Emergency Relief for Small Businesses Requires a Targeted Approach

Here are some useful ways to segment the more than 160 million micro and small businesses in developing countries for more targeted, effective COVID-19 relief.
Blog

India’s Proposed Data Protection Bill Breaks from Notice and Consent

The proposed bill would mark a significant advance in rethinking how to protect digital consumer rights, putting India at the forefront of modern data protection regimes.
Research

Making Data Work for the Poor

The consumer consent model for data privacy and protection is broken. It’s time for a new data paradigm whereby financial services providers and data collectors take greater responsibility for protecting customers’ data.
Blog

It Pays to Be Patient with Fintech Innovation

Take a look at some fintech pilots that didn't go as initially expected but yielded important insights about how to make better financial products.
Research

Fintechs and Financial Inclusion

Based on pilots with 18 fintechs across Africa and South Asia, this paper identifies emerging fintech innovations with potential to improve the lives of the poor. It also highlights common challenges faced by early-stage fintechs.