Keywords

Foreign Product Differentiation, Innovation, Price, Business Performance, Real Estate Industry.

Introduction

The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008 became a defining that led to a seismic shift and the major transformation of banking and financial sector towards and into a tech savvy and tech dependent sector leading to creation of firms, widely known as “FinTech”. The word “FinTech” is a portmanteau of “financial technology”, which refers to “the assimilation of technology into offerings by financial services companies, in order to improve their use and delivery to consumers today”. It basically signifies to the advanced technological start-ups which break away from the conventional banking and financial practices and provides a wide array of services like mobile payment, money transfer globally, crowd funding solutions, digital portfolio management (RBI, 2018). It is an emerging area, which is attracting the interest of both investment-oriented firms and financial service providers by facilitating and contributing in better customer services, cost optimisation, technology advancement, social and financial inclusion.

In a short span of time, FinTech firms have contributed immensely by playing a pivotal role in un-bundling of banking into core functions of (i) performing maturity transformation, sharing risks and allocating capital and settling payments (Carney, 2019; RBI bulletin, 2020). The range of products and services offered in FinTech includes Peer to Peer (P2P) lending platforms, mobile payments, payment gateways, Insurance, bonds, crowd funding, consumer banking, stock trading apps, block chain, robo-advisors, crypto currency, E-aggregators, regtech and suptech.

The previous literature available on FinTech has suggested its crucial role in addressing some major issues in developing economies like poverty, urban development, social development, financial fragility, financial literacy, financial and social inclusion (Cheng & Qu 2020; Fung et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020). It has altered and enhanced the automated process of delivering financial services to the consumers (Ren et al., 2021; Hongda et al., 2022), and also has attempted to increase the participation of those social groups, which are frequently recognised as ‘excluded’ by many policy frameworks. The development of FinTech has made a substantial contribution in encouraging financial inclusion and in over-all economic and social growth of countries (Yoshino et al., 2020). The impact on FinTech on financial inclusion and social inclusion is evident from the fact that governments in many countries have tailor made policies around financial inclusion and social inclusion completely based on FinTech by creating enabling regulatory environment and thereby getting marginalised groups in the mainstream of the economy and society.

Further, based on the assertion that, financial development and socio-economic growth go hand-in-hand, and financial inclusion is one of the substantial dimensions of financial development, we argue that financial inclusion and social inclusion has become the major focal points in FinTech growth (Le et al., 2020), however, the limitation is that a smaller number of studies exist focusing on the above and wherein the stated relationship is empirically verified.

Thus, with the help of this study the authors endeavours to fill the gap in the analytical literature on this subject by analysing the existing empirical research and secondary data available on the context and trying to establish a nexus between the role of growth in FinTech and its impact on financial and social inclusion and ultimately on social capital in the country. We truly aspire that this study would provide a platform for many other empirical research on the concept of FinTech, social and financial inclusion, and on social capital (the concept which has largely been ignored in previous studies).

We further aim to expound taxonomy on the above concepts and extricate the effect of FinTech on socio-economic realms. So, the article proceeds in six sections: Introduction of FinTech as a concept in section I, Section II deals with evolution, adoption of FinTech in India and globally. FinTech and its impact on financial inclusion in Section III, social inclusion and FinTech in Section IV, finding, conclusion and recommendations in section V and VI respectively.

FinTech

Definition and Scope: FinTech is an umbrella term which signifies technological advancements and innovations in the field of financial services. FinTechs are “start-ups and other companies that use technologies to conduct the fundamental functions provided by financial services, impacting how consumers store, save, borrow, invest, move, pay, and protect money” (McKinsey, 2016). According to Financial Stability Board (FSB), of the BIS in (2019), “FinTech is technologically enabled financial innovation that could result in new business models, applications, processes, or products with an associated material effect on financial markets and institutions and the provision of financial services”. Thus, we can say, FinTech are those innovative start-up companies in financial sector that employ modern and technology advanced solutions in order to provide digitally enhanced services and products to customers and also make an attempt to widespread access of those products and services in a more convenient, agile, user-friendly way at a lower cost than traditional players.

The above definitions embrace the wide possibility of technology innovations and advancements regardless of the size of the firm, type and regulatory status of the firm. Those firms have the potential to process and deliver a wide range of bundled benefits which are efficiently improved and at a low cost as compared to traditional financial services, especially, when one is evaluating the rapid development of financial institutions and system, and the connected opportunities and risks (RBI, 2018). Therefore, these technological enhancements and developments have profoundly changed the perception of people about use of financial services and has escalated financial and social inclusion like never before. Some of the key enabling technologies used by FinTech firms are mentioned in Table 1.

Table 1 Key Enabling Technologies by Using Fin Techs
Biometrics	The study Distinctive and measurable human characteristics that can be used to categorize and identify individuals.
DLT(Distributed Ledger Technology)	A digital system for recording the transaction of assests in which details are recorded in multiple places at the same time.
Bg data	Voluminous amounts of structured or unstructured data that can be generated analysed and utilized by digital tools and information system
AI(Artificial Intelligence) & ML(Machine Learning)	IT System that can perform functions that would otherwise require human capabilities. ML entails computers learning from data without human intervention.

FinTech’s Impact on Global Financial Services: One of the major drawbacks of GFC was the perception that it created in the minds of the entrepreneurs and of general public that their life savings were deflected to subprime borrowing with huge risk involved and inadequate consumer protection. Due to which, the GFC gave an incarnation and impetus effect to FinTech sector in 2008, as it was only then, when investors realised that there should be more transparency in terms of facility and economic risk involved in banking services (Hendrikse et al., 2018).

The GFC led to a need for transparency and thus, the investors became more sophisticated and diversified in their choices for digital financial services. (Frost, 2020; RBI, 2020). The global FinTech adoption was further motivated by technological advancements and innovations in the field of electronic finance, mobile finance, internet technology, artificial intelligence, social media, and other social networking services. Currently, the scope of Fin Tech is extended to some of the important sectors like insurance, wealth, asset management, stock trading and other multi-sector companies (KPMG, 2019). It can be safely argued that FinTechs are playing a pivotal in making the financial sector function more efficiently (Philippon, 2020). It is true that FinTech has led to growth of innovations, however, the inverse of the same is also true i.e., innovation has led to growth of FinTech. Some of the major FinTech innovations are listed below in Table 2.

Table 2 Categorization of Major Fin Tech Innovations
Payments, Clearing& Settlementt	Deposits, Lending& Capital raising	Market Provisioning	Investment Management	Data Analytics & Risk Management
Mobile and Web-based payments Digital currencies Distributed ledger	Crowd-funding peer to peer lending Digital Currencies Distributed Ledger	Smart contracts cloud computing E-Aggregators	Robo Advice smart contracts e-Trading	Big data Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

These technological innovations and advancements in finance sector forced the traditional business organizations to reframe their business models and deliver diverse and advanced service solutions (Davis et al., 2017). In last few years, the investors have also shown interest in investing in FinTech companies world-wide, with total value of investments into Fin Tech companies increasing from US$ 9 billion in 2010 to US$ 210 billion in 2021 (Figure 1).

FinTech adoption in India: With the second-largest base of internet users, the FinTech sector in India is young and is a rapidly growing sector driven by large market-base duly supported by forthcoming government policies, friendly regulatory interventions, concoction of technology, innovation-oriented start-ups and other business opportunities. Mankotia (2020), stated that in India FinTech has been recognised as the fastest growing sector and it is the 3^rd largest FinTech ecosystem around the globe. As a result, the FinTech and other digital players are categorised as forth segment in Indian financial system, in conjunction with banks (including RRBs, cooperative banks, large, mid-sized and small banks) (Das, 2020). The above segment can profoundly transform the finance sector of the country as consumers will be provided with better choices and various alternatives in terms of better and speedy services, competitive prices, efficient and innovative products, low cost (RBI, 2020).

In order to do that, several start-ups have come forward, whilst, both the banking and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are coping up with the current shift in the technology for providing financial services. In order to safely ensure growth, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) keep a check on this sector by directly and indirectly regulating the FinTech firms. RBI is also taking several measures to make sure the availability of affordable, secured, efficient and easily accessible payment systems to the general public. This new technology advancement in finance has the potential to address and deliver workable solutions to some of the major problems faced by financial institution, even today, like low market penetration, cash driven economy, black money, inadequate credit history. As per RBI, FinTech firms are redefining the ways of carrying out day to day business practices, and with a collaborative effort by investors, stakeholders, market players and the regulators, it can change the Indian financial sector dramatically (RBI, 2018).

According to the survey analysis by RBI, the FinTech sector in India flourished by 282% between the year 2013-14, with a total investment of $450 million in 2015. The report also suggests, as of 2020, the adoption rate of FinTech in India is one of the highest in the world i.e., 87% when compared to the global average of 64%.

The products/services offered by FinTechs in Indian financial markets are broadly as under (Figure 2):

Today, FinTech firms execute multifaceted financial actions from high-frequency trading to payment gateways, from virtual currencies to purchasing insurance, from crowd funding to mobile wallets, and from block chains to bill payments etc. (Kim et al., 2018). Despite of the measures taken by the regulators, there still exist concerns about data security. However, the consumers still prefer FinTech firms over traditional players owing to convenience and cost efficiency of the services provided by FinTech firms (EY, 2019).

Diversity of markets and the application thereto is one of the important feature India’s FinTech’s ecosystem. It has been generally observed that emerging sectors focuses on a certain region; however, it is interesting to note that such trend is not followed by FinTech (Basole and Patel, 2018). Though the headquarters of the FinTechs are located majorly in metropolitan regions of India such as Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai, but interestingly FinTechs are also reaching out to smaller cities as well, which is a clear departure from the set trend so in a way FinTech is a trend-breaker. This fact itself proves that FinTechs can help in providing access of financial products to the larger population who does not reside in metros. As per the database maintained by Tracxn, in India a total of 4,680 companies have been classified as FinTechs. These FinTechs can be broadly grouped into 15 business models (Figure 3).

FinTech and Financial Inclusion

Financial inclusion: Financial inclusion is generally referring to “the process of ensuring access to financial services and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low-income groups at an affordable cost”. It is defined as “the process of ensuring access to financial services, timely and adequate credit for vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low-income groups at an affordable cost”. RBI has set the vision for financial inclusion as, “convenient access to a basket of basic formal financial products and services that should include savings, remittance, credit, government-supported insurance and pension products to small and marginal farmers and low-income households at reasonable cost with adequate protection progressively supplemented by social cash transfers, besides increasing the access of small and marginal enterprises to formal finance with a greater reliance on technology to cut costs and improve service delivery, ….”.

Financial inclusion enables improved and better sustainable economic and social development of the country by increasing social inclusion and reduction of poverty. With enhanced financial inclusion, people who were earlier financially excluded from various financial policies are able to invest in investment schemes, education, saving schemes, small-medium entrepreneurship, which will further help in reducing the poverty and escalating economic growth and social development (Beck et al., 2007; Bruhn & Love, 2014). According to Peterson (2018), financial inclusion supports the marginalised and under-privileged sections of the society in achieving self-sufficiency by enabling them to take informed decisions with respect to financial opportunities. Ellis et al., (2010), stated that financial inclusion provides a possibility to poor households to access credit facility, make investments and build some savings. It gives an opportunity to low-income segment of the society to save for future and maintain a financially stable life along with financial security by depositing their funds in banks and other investment schemes for better and stable returns (Han & Melecky, 2013).

Financial inclusion professes participation of vulnerable sections of the society such as women and low-income groups, basis the extent of access to financial services such as payment account, savings, pension, credit insurance, etc. (RBI, 2020). A greater financial inclusion enables participation level by various sectors of the economy, which will strengthen the macroeconomic stability of the economy resulting into positive economic and social growth (Cecchetti & Kharroubi, 2012). Therefore, the ultimate aim of financial inclusion is to provide easy accessibility of financial services, which enables middle and lower-income groups, rural populace and MSMEs with maximum investment in education, healthcare, business opportunities, post retirement savings, insurance cover, etc.

Government policies, payment infrastructure, evolving markets, socio-economic reforms, financial capability and stability of both business and individuals plays a significant role in forming a country’s strategy to drive financial behaviour and thus enhancing financial inclusion. In India, RBI has drawn significant attention by designing and developing the financial inclusion strategy by proposing 6 strategic pillars to achieve and enhance financial inclusion in the country keeping technology innovation and digital advancement as the foundation of those pillars. They are, Figure 4.

1. Universal access to financial services by both businesses and individuals.

2. Providing basic financial services to everyone.

3. Access to livelihood and skill development.

4. Financial literacy and education.

5. Customer protection and grievance redressal.

6. Effective co-ordination.

Digital Financial Inclusion (DFI): According to BRICS report 2021, DFI signifies the use of digital financial services to further achieve the goal of financial inclusion. The objective is to enhance the digital infrastructure in order to reach-out to the financially excluded population by offering financial services with secured, convenient, affordable manner. The report also states that there are 3 major components for any digital financial service i.e., (a) digital transactional platforms, (b) devices and (c) retail agents. Ozili (2018), in his study elaborated the significance of proper application of DFI which can bring a revolution in financial industry and can spur economic growth, social growth and financial stability in every section of the society including unprivileged and socially backward population. The higher goal of achieving financial inclusion can be achieved by proper implementation of DFI (Banna & Alam, 2021; Hassan et al., 2018). DFI eliminates the obligation of being physically present in a financial institution. An individual can take advantage of virtual financial services provided one has a smartphone with internet connectivity (Manyika et al., 2016). It is interesting to note that since almost 50% of the population residing on developing economies have access to a smart phone with internet connection (especially in India where internet is one of the cheapest in the world), the implementation of DFI has spread rapidly in these economies (World Bank, 2014).

There are numerous benefits of DFI which includes inter alia: spread of financial services, faster and quickly accessible services, social equality, comparatively lower cost of digital platforms, tailored services according to diversified customer needs, convenient, user friendly, lower risk involved, access to vulnerable sections including women, thus empowering them (BRICS, 2021)

In light of the above, it may also be said that financial inclusion achieved by technological advancement and contribution of FinTechs may ultimately lead to achievement of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, in particular goals such as poverty alleviation, gender equality, work opportunities and economic growth, innovation and reduced inequalities (BRICS, 2021). A society which is inclusive financially will ultimately lead to lower poverty and reduce inequality of opportunity by including the earlier excluded sector in the ambit of formal economy.

Impact of FinTech on Financial Inclusion: According to a report published by IMF (2022), there is a direct positive relationship between FinTech firms’ digital financial inclusion even more than the traditional measures of financial inclusion. It can be suggested that FinTech firms are coming out to be a crucial catalyst in the growth of financial inclusion. They have the ability to democratize approach to finance which can bring an economy closer to the goal of achieving financial inclusion. These firms are challenging the conventional ways of carrying out financial services and changing the perception of the people in carrying out day to day transactions plus increasing the financial inclusion including those without deep pockets (RBI, 2018). The IMF report also stated that, by overcoming some of the past market limitations like huge transaction cost involved or existence of information system irregularity, FinTechs may further help expand financial inclusion.

A report published by World Bank (2021) lays emphasis on FinTech firms’ potential to provide speedy and widely accessible services at lower cost. The tailor-made services would enhance financial inclusion at a larger scale. Last decade witnessed coverage of banking of 1.2 billion (earlier unbanked) adults in financial service sector, recoding a major drop by 35% in over-all unbanked population in the world, predominantly with a boost in mobile money accounts. FinTech firms have also shown a positive growth in areas like cross-border remittance, B2B and B2C payments, G2C payments, this enforced digital payment channels to make quick, easy and secured payment gateways and can also reach out to every corner of the country including the vulnerable section of society for cash transfer and liquidity of funds available to them. The advantage of such digital payments was especially witnessed during pandemic, which helped in carrying out the business activities without or with limited physical contact (Manyika et al., 2016). B2C and B2B FinTech firms are indirectly expanding the financial inclusion in the country by providing innovative aids to banking and other NBFCs in improving their existing offerings (CGAP, 2021). FinTechs businesses can also make an alliance with SHGs (Self Help Groups) in order to reach out to the socially excluded section of the society and also can generate more gender equality in terms of financial inclusion (PWC, 2021).

Jack and Suri (2016) summarized the role of FinTechs in enhancing financial inclusion, especially to the rural population, who are reluctant to travel far places but wants to save time and money. Jack and Suri (2016) further elaborated the role of FinTech firms in building the economy more financial inclusive by providing transparent, cashless transactions, friendly and secured user interface which would attract and motivate more and more users to start using such services, hence, strengthening the economy and providing a sustainable development. According to a study published in Harward Business Review (2022), FinTech firms around the globe promises to widely expand financial inclusion to the underbanked and unbanked population reinforcing financial health of the individual or firm and fostering digital security. The major FinTech players like Visa, PayPal, Fiserv, Mastercard, Shopify, etc., are encouraging their products and services to promote financial inclusion and sustainable economic growth.

Nonetheless, only by rising the number of FinTech companies in India is not enough to expand the ambit of financial inclusion. To magnify financial inclusion in the country it is important to have a concoction of efforts by FinTech organizations, banks along with regulatory authorities (PWC, 2021). Media can play an important role in spreading the awareness of the flexible, convenient, affordable and user-friendly interface of FinTech services thus, creating financial literacy among the potential users and financial inclusion in the country.

According to the above report by PWC, below are some of the key models of financial services which can be extended to FinTech firms creating a positive impact on financial inclusion in India, if adopted on a larger scale?

1. Incorporation of E-KYC for faster processing.

2. IMT (Instant Money Transfer) facilities or kiosks to facilitate IMT.

3. Alternate customer database to check credit history for faster loan approvals.

4. Smart panchayats or villages where kiosk can be set up for banks.

5. Bank-on-bike initiative where bank can reach out to remote areas of the country.

6. No-frill accounts scheme.

7. Electronic benefit transfer (EBT) scheme.

At present, the government of India along with RBI are taking various initiatives to promote FinTech firms and financial inclusion in the country by introducing various schemes such as Aadhaar enrolment, payment banks’ licensing, Jan Dhan Yojana, etc.

FinTech and Social Inclusion

Social Inclusion: The concepts of social inclusion and social exclusion are deeply related, and therefore, it is important to discuss social exclusion if social inclusion is to be correctly understood. Each country has some groups of individuals that face certain barriers which prevent them from taking active part in politics, social measures, or economic reforms. These groups are often discriminated based on occupation, employment status, gender, religion, location, disability, race, citizenship status, etc. The existence of such social exclusion robs the safety, security, identity, dignity and the possibility to live a better life for an individual. For instance, person with a different ability along with certain other medical conditions make them vulnerable and are socially excluded from the society. Avramov (2002) defined social exclusion as, “Exclusion as a social process is the denial of access to opportunity and social rights to particular individuals or groups of individuals”. Burchardt et al. (1999), suggested that: “an individual is socially excluded if he or she does not participate in key activities in the society in which he or she lives”. Levitas et al. (2007) suggested the following definition: “Social exclusion is a complex and multi-dimensional process. It involves the lack of denial of resources, rights, goods and services, and the inability to participate in the normal relationships and activities, available to the majority of people in society, whether in economic, social, cultural, or political arenas. It affects both the quality of life of individuals and the equity and cohesion of society as a whole”.

This perception of social exclusion may compel certain groups to withdraw from services, markets, contribution towards economic development, which harms the growth and development of both individual and over-all economy. According to a survey done by World Bank (2020), the aggregate loss in human capital wealth due to gender discrimination alone was US$ 160.2 trillion. While 90% of the differently abled children do not attend schools. Therefore, it can be argued that the economic cost of social exclusion can be calculated by foregone GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and human capital wealth of a nation. Without addressing to the root cause of social exclusion and social discrimination, its impossible for any economy to achieve the economic growth and SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).

Whereas, social inclusion is the initiative to ensure that every individual of the society have equal right to access the same available opportunities (Oxoby, 2009; Martin & Cobigo, 2011; Silver, 2010). Collins (2003), explained the intervention of social inclusion policies in a meaningful and effective way by eliminating such barriers to ensure the right of participation by every individual of the society (Percy-Smith, 2000; Marston & Dee, 2015). Therefore, we can say that social inclusion is the process in which various measures are taken to make sure that every individual should get right of equal opportunities irrespective of their social or cultural background. Such measures include regulatory policy frameworks and other social-economic measures which can be accessed by any individual to improve their ability, involvement, opportunity and dignity of those excluded on the bases of their identity, to make their living better. Thus, World bank also emphasises on the criticality and importance of social inclusion for the economic growth and sustainable development of any country.

Impact of FinTech on Social Inclusion: Both social and financial inclusion are 2 main objectives to enhance the social-economic welfare of the society as a whole (O’connor, 2005; Chibba, 2009). In India, regulatory authorities have come up with numerous efforts to expand social and financial inclusion (Long, 2010; Allen et al., 2016; Ozili, 2018). As stated above, in last decade with the rise in the FinTech firm, there seems a significant expansion of financial inclusion which has brought together various social groups to come forward and participate in the new economic development through FinTechs. According to a publication of Harward Business Review (2022), on the bases of the promises of creating a positive ‘social effect’ via financial inclusion, the FinTech sector has shown a meteoric growth acquiring more impact-related investment funds than any other sector. The results of the study by Morgon Stanley, states that the impact-investment in last decade has shown a remarkable growth of 10% and more than 70% of “impact” businesses produce more profits as compared to traditional businesses.

The FinTech firms that are committed to social impact endeavour to provide exceptional user-friendly services and eradicating the socio-economic barriers to improve the lives of millions of people all over the world. That is why ‘social’ appeals more and more to the millions of customers thus creating financial literacy resulting social and financial inclusion. These social inclusion initiatives taken by FinTech firms also debunk the myth of being only profit centric organizations which cannot have a social welfare as primary objective of the company. It changed the perception of the millions that a company can generate good profit volumes and simultaneously can work for the socio-economic welfare of the society as a whole.

Findings and Conclusion

Firstly, there is ample data to support the claim that when compared to traditional methods of financial inclusion, FinTech has been much more successful in achieving financial inclusion and thus, it has a higher positive correlation with digital financial inclusion.

Secondly, from the existing empirical study of the available data, it may be stated that FinTech has some positive impact on the 3 digital divides (of financial inclusion) of gender divide, class divide and rural divide, as identified by Fletcher’s School. While it has significant positive impact in narrowing class divide and rural divide, its impact on gender divide is still questionable. Therefore, with respect to addressing the problem of gender divide, it is recommended that only FinTech may not be sufficient and it needs to be supplemented with targeted policy initiatives by the government and regulators – this may include making it mandatory for the FinTechs to make certain percentage of its services exclusively reserved for women.

However, the financial inclusion is not only goal but a means to get to the ultimate goal of social inclusion and economic growth. There is no doubt that financial inclusion has a profound impact on the social inclusion and an enabler of economic growth and stability of the country.

The main reason for achievement of success by FinTech lies in the flexibility and transparency that it offers to the users, when compared with traditional financial institutions. By use of technology and innovations, FinTech offers more diversified and tailor-made products as per the requirements of the users, thereby tapping the huge marker potential in its favour by penetrating not only the established markets in the metros but also satellite towns and rural areas as well. This penetration not only helps the FinTechs in generating more revenues but also helps in the financial and social inclusion of most of the populace at macro level.

Discussions for Future Research

1. Since the FinTech is a growing sector and in its phase of infancy, it would be helpful to undertake research as to what specific steps the government and the regulator may initiate to further support the FinTechs. Steps like tax holidays, may be considered.

2. Research on the need for introduction of checks and balances in the functioning of FinTechs may be considered. As is the case with any growing sector, checks and balances are essential to safeguard the ultimate users, which in the case of FinTechs may be anybody from major corporates to socially and economically vulnerable sections of the society.

3. Steps required to be undertaken by FinTechs and the Regulators to ensure data privacy of the users. It is not wrong to state that the data is the new gold in the 21st century; therefore, it becomes important to ensure that the data of the users which is in the possession of the FinTechs is not compromised and breached.

4. Detailed research on identification and analysis of inherent risks in the functioning of FinTechs and mitigation strategies. This will again ensure protection of the sector and also the users.

5. Detailed evaluation of the FinTech ecosystem to understand the interactions between FinTech, the regulators, the users and other stakeholders.

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Received: 01-Sep-2023, Manuscript No. ASMJ-23-13252; Editor assigned: 03-Sep-2023, PreQC No. ASMJ-23-13252 (PQ); Reviewed: 17-Sep-2023, QC No. ASMJ-23-13252; Revised: 21-Sep-2023, Manuscript No. ASMJ-23-13252 (R); Published: 28-Sep-2023