CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ON DIGITAL PAYMENT: AN ASSESSMENT STUDY OF HIMALAYAN REGION IN KUMAUN HILLS OF UTTARAKHAND

Abstract

  The world is rolling towards digitalization at very rapid pace. In preceding era, there was a cashless society performing economic exchange through the Barter system. Although in modern era, economic actions are led through numerous electronic means, instead of using cash. These transactions are approved via mobile phones, though, a lot of transactions are still carried out using only cash in India. Keeping this in mind, this study was planned to assess the impact of cashless economy to an advancement of society through cashless transactions in rural areas of Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand. 200 subjects were selected through purposive sampling and interviewed with a pretested questionnaire. Majority (80 %) respondents were aware about digital payments, only because demonetization in the country. About 38 percent of subjects were practicing Internet banking/ mobile banking. Notably majority of the subjects belonged to high socio-economic status. Moreover, the majority (62.5 percent) echoed their inability for using Internet/mobile banking services attributed to a lack of comprehensive understanding of consumer’s approach to safety and technical intricacies. Despite being educated, many of respondents did not custom even digital payment apps because of financial security concerns. Alongside, there was also a dearth of digital literacy as well as Internet accessibility leading being a causative factor for undergoing difficult use of mobile payment apps. Majority of respondents (69.6 percent) believed in existence of lack in an authenticity of digital transactions, portraying the lack of awareness among people for digital transactions. In contrary, only 30.4 percent of people responded the authenticity within digital transactions as apparent.