Using E-Wallets As a Tool

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A study was conducted to observe the use of E- wallets as a tool in journey towards cashless economy. Our country is making a move towards cashless economy to bring to an end corruption, terrorism and black money. How can a cashless economy bring about this change? Benefits of cashless economy are many. Few important ones are listed here No counterfeit currency: If there is no paper currency in circulation; one cannot create counterfeit currency and therefore there won’t be any counterfeit currency.

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No terrorism: when counterfeit currency does not exist terrorism will be finish as terrorism thrives on counterfeit currency.

No black money: Cash can be hoarded without records but when there is no paper currency hoarding will end and so will the black money. No tax invasion: when people are hoarding cash, they don’t show it in their income and they don’t pay tax on it .So when one is hoarding black money there is tax invasion.

But with end of black money tax invasion will also end. No harm to nature: Further natural resources will be saved because currency is made from paper and paper is made from plants. Cost-saving: The cost of printing currency is huge, as it is very complex exercise. The paper used for printing currency is also expensive. Further the currency gets spoiled in use and has to be sorted and soiled currency destroyed. All this exercise requires lots of money. This is saved in paperless currency .The government can used the saved money for development purpose.

There are many methods or tools used to go from only a cash economy to cashless economy.

Few of them are net banking, debit cards, credit cards and E-wallets. Let us discuss E-wallets in details. What is an E-wallet? A wallet is a solid object where we keep our currency notes and coins in it. Similarly E-wallet is electronic wallet, where money is stored in electronic form. The amount is shown in figures as no cash can be stored digitally in E-wallet .For example you have Rs 2000/- in your E- wallet account. if you have to re-charge your phone for an amount of say Rs 500/-so when you recharge, Rs 500/- is paid to the service provider and same is deducted from your account and the balance shown is Rs 1500/-.

Now where the first balance comes from? For this one has to first register with E- Wallet Company There are three methods by which one can add money to E-wallet, inter banking, debit card & credit card. Once the payment is authorized the amount is credited to E wallet from saving banks account or credit card account. If one wants to use e-wallet one needs a smartphone, tablet or access to a computer with internet facility and a proper browser which can connect one to internet. “E-wallet is a type of electronic card which is used for transactions made online through a computer or a smart phone. Its utility is same as a credit or debit card. An E-wallet needs to be linked with the individual’s bank account to make payments” by The Economics Times “E-Wallet is an online account that helps you buy merchandise and do all kinds of transactions online without using your debit and credit card. Most card users are concerned about the security aspects of the credit card.

There is always the fear that someone can use your card and fleece you. E-Wallet, with its inherent security features, obviates this possibility. The E-Wallet can be in digital form, in your mobile, or in the form of a card which can be used for payment. It can be likened to a secured credit card, which is a prepaid account. However, in the case of e-Wallet, there may not be any physical card.” By Moneycontrol.com March 2015 The data for the study was collected through primary and secondary sources. Primary data has been gathered through structured questionnaires. Primary data collected from 50 respondents in Mumbai city. Questions were framed based on the problems and objectives. Secondary data was collected by reviewing various published articles.

Rationale

Our government is encouraging a cashless economy. E- Wallets being a powerful tool in way towards cashless economy, the objectives were to find out the awareness of E- wallets among in people living in Mumbai and the actual use of E-wallets. For this survey was done using goggle form so that the response is quick. Respondents were chosen from all age groups. The study was conducted in Mumbai, the financial capital of India.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Out of all the respondents 46.8% of the respondents were in the age group of 18-30 years, 40.8% were in the age group of 30-50 and only 12.8 % of the respondents were over 50 years. It was observed that the few people over 50 years of age were using E wallets. The results showed that E-wallet was used more by young generation between years 18 to 30 years. Based on the monthly earnings of the respondents it was observed that 31 % of respondent had income below Rs 25000 per month and 34% of respondent had monthly earnings of Rs 75000 or more. The result shows that the E-wallet was used same by one and all irrespective of their earnings.

It was observed that majority i.e. 85% of the respondents were aware about the functions of E-wallets. Merely 6% of respondent were not aware of the functions of E-wallets, whereas 8.5% were not confident about the functions of E-wallets. The respondents were asked from where they got information regarding the E-wallets. 48% of the respondents started using E-wallets on advised of their friends. This interprets that’s friends have pressure on the lifestyle of an individual. That is why it was found that usage of E–wallets was more in the younger generation. 34% respondents gain knowledge regarding E-wallet from the internet.

There are different players of E-wallets in India. Paytm was observed to be the most popular with 63.8 % of the respondent using the Paytm, making the most popular E-wallet; it was followed by Google pay. BHIM, Bharat Interface for Money is a mobile app developed by National Payments Corporation of India, based on the Unified Payment Interface is used by 8.5%. It was observed that 21.3% of respondents used E wallets for payment of utility bill whereas about 14.9% stated that they used it for recharges. It was observed from the replies of 53.2% of respondents that the E-wallet was used for paying utility bills, recharge and transfer of money.

The 57 % of the user found E-wallet convenient and effortless. 27% of the respondents were attracted to cash back and endorsement proposes by E-wallets. Rest felts the transactions made on E-wallets are protected, safe and sound. A whopping 79% of the respondents stated that they make use of E-wallet on their smart phone. So we can conclude that smart phones play an important role in digital India. It can be due to easy availability of smart phones in both rural and urban area and affordability of the same than desk top and laptops. It was observed that 66% of the respondent used E-wallets as a mode of payment. But the 23.4 % of the respondents had not adopted the same and still preferred the traditional ways of payment.

It was observed that 25.5% of respondents made use of E-wallets daily. However, 27.7% of respondents used it daily or weekly. 19% of respondent use it as and when it is required. Due to time restrictions the survey was carried in Mumbai city and the respondents were from Mumbai city .The finding are of Mumbai, a metropolitan city. The observation may differ with respondents from semi urban and rural areas. The data was collected online through goggle forms .People who were not techno savvy could not participate in this survey. So the results are limited too response from techno savvy people.

Suggestion

When the security issues and risk factors involved in usage of E-wallets are tighten, when people are confident of safety of their funds involved then there will be tremendous growth in usage of E-wallets in future.

Conclusion

It was observed that E-wallet usage is preferred by younger generation. However, the awareness of E-wallet was found in all the age groups. The younger generation being technology savvy has adopted it easily. This usage may due to encouragement of cashless economy by our government march towards digital India.