For Mus’haf Khan, a PhD researcher here at Salford Business School, studying the intersection of AI (artificial intelligence), digital transformation and sustainability, the UK Academy for Information Systems (UKAIS) 2025 Conference represented a critical milestone.
Hosted at Newcastle University Business School, just weeks before his PhD viva, Mus’haf presented his research to an audience of leading academics.
About Mus’haf’s research
Mus’haf presented his case study on e-credit – a project he spearheaded as Financial Advisor to Pakistan’s Punjab government. The initiative broke bureaucratic barriers to connect smallholder farmers with formal financial systems through mobile technology.
Sharing stories of farmers walking miles to thank officials for their first digital loans, and women gaining unprecedented financial autonomy, Mus’haf conveyed how e-credit created measurable change in crop yields, loan repayment rates and gender equity.
The Empowerment of Kissan (farmer) through Digital and Financial Inclusion (e-Credit) scheme aimed to provide credit to unbanked and geographically isolated smallholder farmers and digitise loan disbursement using mobile wallets and APIs (application programming interfaces). It also offered vital agricultural advisory services, including real-time weather updates and market prices.
Key technologies enabling this transformation, akin to foundational elements of digital public infrastructure (DPI), included a farmer registration portal for standardised KYC (know your customer) and land records integrated with national ID system, NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority).
The Agri-Loan Portal served as a centralised platform for efficient loan tracking, approvals and disbursement, utilising APIs for seamless data sharing with banks and mobile wallets, thereby reducing duplication and credit rationing. Furthermore, Assan Accounts and mobile wallets facilitated low-cost transactions via USSD (unstructured supplementary service data)/QR codes, linked to mobile numbers for widespread accessibility.
The Connected Agriculture Punjab Platform (CAPP) provided a suite of mobile apps offering critical advisory services like pest control and market price information. A pivotal innovation was the e-Passbook, which digitised land collateralisation, drastically cutting loan processing times from months to just 72 hours and eliminating risks of manual verification and corruption.
Some highlights from Mus’haf’s research
The findings of Mus’haf’s research highlight significant success including:
- The interoperable financial technologies (i-FinTech) reduced operational costs for financial institutions by 30-50%
- Digital collateralisation dramatically improved the accuracy, speed and transparency of credit access
- Crucially, the initiative demonstrated that addressing digital literacy is paramount for adoption and that strong policy alignment is essential for scalability
- The stories shared, of farmers walking miles to express gratitude for their first digital loans and women gaining unprecedented financial autonomy, underscore the profound impact of e-credit in creating measurable change in crop yields, loan repayment rates and gender equity
- What began as a local solution in Punjab is becoming a model for inclusive finance globally, illustrating the transformative potential of well-designed DPI
This research not only showcases a successful model for digital transformation, but also offers valuable insights for similar initiatives globally, particularly in regions like Africa and Latin America, where a high density of smallholder farmers faces similar challenges. Mus’haf’s work truly demonstrates how impactful research can drive tangible change when grounded in real-world contexts, contributing significantly to the evolving understanding of responsible DPI for improving outcomes beyond mere access.