Ajay Raina
The ‘Go Digital’ fever that gripped the nation soon after the demonetization of the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations was announced by the Prime Minister seems to have
subsided to a great
extent in the State
of Jammu and Kashmir.
With currency notes back in banks, people prefer to do business in this mode than holding smart phones, digital wallets, Point-of-Sale (PoS) machines, credit and debit cards, etc. in hands.
The reasons for this diminishing enthusiasm are not difficult to seek.
During interaction with various people including youths, it came to fore that the State will take some more time to become digital as people still prefer doing business in cash.
A shopkeeper at Jewel namely Sandeep Gupta while interacting with EXCELSIOR said that the digital payments are falling with each passing day. Many of my customers are paying cash. “During the period of demonetization from November 8 to December 31, the customers made payments through various digital modes and now when the cash is back in the market, only few people are doing e-commerce”, he added.
“I receive amount in cash and deposit the same in the bank on regular basis. The problem arises problem when a customer does a transaction of Rs 100 through digital mode, I feel bad to transfer such a meagre amount to the bank and I use that amount for my personal use like mobile recharge, mobile bill payments, dish recharge, etc. My earning on daily basis received some setback in the past and now I have stopped receiving payments through any digital mode”, he added.
One of the reasons behind going digital in J&K is lack of infrastructure particularly in rural areas. The telecome service providers do not have sufficient towers and allied infrastructure to meet the demand of people.
A cashless economy can only be possible with sufficient infrastructure and planning that are required for supporting an economy like India, said Dr Rohit Lahori, Pain Specialist posted at Government Hospital, Gandhi Nagar.
“Government is required to disseminate more information about cashless transactions among the masses and should involve youth in it”, he said, adding that government should develop trust among the people especially old age persons so as to remove the fear of getting looted by the online fraudsters.
During interaction with petrol pump operators, it came to fore that people visiting the petrol pumps are also not in favour of cashless transactions.
“Cashless transactions take time, sometimes we have to go for transactions for many times due to low internet connectivity and so I prefer cash”, said Manjeet Singh, a customer at petrol pump.
Mohan, the manager of a Petrol Pump said that they are receiving cash through digital mode in case a person gets his or her vehicle filled with petrol or diesel with Rs 500, Rs 1000 or in big amount.
“People pay cash when they get their vehicle filled with petrol or diesel for Rs 50 or Rs 100”, he said, adding that during the period of demonetization, the payments through digital mode was high, but now when the cash is back in the market, customers are paying cash.
Due to demonetization, the poor section of Jammu who is hardly covered under conventional banking system got affected a lot, as it is solely dependent on cash for daily wages and spending.
As everybody especially daily wagers can’t afford smart phones, Government has to take onboard certain mobile manufacturer companies to make in built certain applications in all basic mobiles, where people don’t require to remember their bank account details and passwords every time. Atleast one member in every family has to be made digitally literate. Government has to think on all these parameters to make digital payments a successful project.
A daily wager Mukesh from Bihar working at a construction site while talking to the Excelsior said that the poor section still believe in cash payments. “Due to lack of knowledge about internet usage, how can we do digital payments”, he said.
“Cashless economy is definitely a wise move, given the fact that it will allow less tension of tackling a wallet full of notes along with us, which is not at all safe in a world full of anti-social. We can rather use our mobile as a one-stop solution for all kinds of transactions such as bill payments, fees payments, funds transfer, recharge, etc”, said Vishal Sharma, a BA Part-III student.
Payments through digital modes by using various Mobile Apps including Paytm, FreeCharge and Mobikwik will ensure ‘black-money free India’, he said, adding that crime rates have already started diminishing due to cash ban.
If the Government in Jammu and Kashmir is really interested to be the part of ‘Digitial India’, they must diffuse proper information to the people especially living in far flung and rural areas about e-commerce, Sharma added.
A number of applications have come in market on our smart phones, still the desired kick is missing. People are confused by these number of applications, even number of people don’t have trust in online payment. Even after bank accounts are being linked with Aadhar card, the digital payment through Aadhar linked is not so friendly among people, because number of times people don’t remember their account number and password. This has made the issue a bit complicated. Mass awareness is lacking. Cyber threat is one of the main areas of concern.
The country witnessed a surge in cashless transactions through the digital mode, be it through credit or debit cards, mobile phone applications, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app under Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) or e-wallets, but in Jammu, the cashless transactions by the people especially old age persons witnesses a set back as they fear that they will be looted by these modes by the persons engaged in cyber crimes.
When this correspondent talked to a group of senior citizens I came to know that old age persons harbour fear about online transaction as they think that by e-commerce they might get cheated by the online fraudsters.
“Cashless economy will see a hike in the hacking of the personal information over the internet such as credit and debit card numbers, PINs, passwords and other sensitive information due to an increase of digital transactions”, they added.
“Cashless transactions have made people keep all their cash in the bank and hence liquidity in the banking system has increased. It has also stopped the flow of black money, up to some extent. Now the banks and financial institutions have more money to lend to the people to support the growth of Indian economy. The other most important advantage is that this situation will make people pay their taxes in a transparent manner and the Government will have more money to run various schemes meant for the welfare of the public”, said Arun Gupta, Senior Manager, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Domana, Jammu.
He stated that people are still using cash for making payments and when they visit, us, we encourage them to make payments through digital modes, but due to lack of knowledge about internet, they have developed a fear in their mind of getting looted by anti-social elements.
Amit Kumar, a student said “Bank Officials in the State must create a tempory section within the bank where they can impart important instructions to people regarding e-banking etc.
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