INTRODUCTION:

In the current scenario, India is developing at a fast pace. The government has been putting various efforts in order to move to a digitized economy. The biggest initiative so far with respect to this is the Digital India campaign that was launched by the Modi government in 2015, the objective of which was to ensure that the Government's services are made available to citizens electronically by improving the online infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity or by making the country digitally empowered in the field of technology. Because of this, people have started using different types of digital payment mechanisms like debit card, credit card, E-wallets, Smart cards etc. The most prominent amongst these have become the E-wallets, wherein an application is needed to be installed in the user’s Smartphone, an account is opened in which money is added that acts like a wallet.

Such E-wallets are used to make payments for almost all kinds of goods and services like payment of utility bills, fruits, groceries, clothing, gold etc. Usage of such E-wallets has grown drastically in the past few years. Here in this paper, we will discuss its usage amongst the working Indian women that forms a great majority of the working population.

Women have been doing really well in their careers. They are breaking all the barriers when it comes to earning money. They are becoming tech savvy with the passage of time. Due to internet connectivity and increaser in the usage of smart phones, women have started using E-wallets. They realize its importance. From paying for milk to making payment for buying jewellery, women have accustomed them to the usage of E-wallets. With the growth in the earning capacity, women buy smart phones and ensure that they are not behind anyone. They want to grow with the passage of time and appreciate such innovative digital payment mechanisms.

LITERATURE REVIEW:

There are a number of mobile applications like Freecharge, Paytm etc. that can be downloaded and used for various reasons like paying utility bills, recharging the SIM, etc. Once the application is downloaded, a person has to link his card number with app for availing the services provided. People find E-wallets to be convenient and easy to use for shopping purpose (Ambarish Salodkar et al).

According to Poonam painuly and shalurathi (2016), Mobile wallet is an upcoming mode of business transaction that provides ease of transaction, secured profile and convenience in handling. Industries like banking, retail, hospitality, etc., are making use of E-wallets.

Rajesh krishnabalan, narayanramasubhu, girikumartayi (2006) have identified about Singapore’s use of digital wallet and analysed the key challenges in building and deploying a digital wallet.

Dr.hemshwetarathore in her research paper “Adoption of Digital wallet by consumers “ has analysed the factors that influence consumers in adoption of digital wallet. She has analyzed the risk and challenges faced by consumers in usage of digital wallet and concluded that shoppers are adopting digital wallet largely due to convenience and ease of use and in the future years digital wallet will gain more widespread acceptance.

Trilok Nath Shulka(2016) in his paper has explained that due to the widespread usage of technology, smart phones have grabbed the attention of a wide variety of customers. It has become easier for people to use web applications. Telecom companies have also proved a helping hand by providing 3G and 4G technology for faster transactions. Author has discussed four types of e-wallets in India: open, closed, semi-open and semi-closed. According to him companies should offer cash back offers and discounts, gifts to promote the usage of m-wallets among users. Many more applications of m-wallets are yet to be discovered.

OBJECTIVES:

· To understand the concept of E-wallets.

· To analyze its usage by the working Indian women.

· To know the benefits of using E-Wallets along with the factors that affects its usage.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The research is descriptive and exploratory in nature. It based on both primary and secondary data. Secondary data are collected through websites, newspapers, magazines, journals, etc. For primary data, a survey was conducted on 100 Working women in Delhi through online mode. Questionnaires was created on Google Forms and circulated through e-mails and WhatsApp. Additional data is collected from different newspapers, reports, journals, websites and research papers. For the purpose of analysis, frequency distribution, pie charts and bar graphs have been used.

E-WALLETS IN INDIA:

Technology is the backbone of the digital revolution that is taking place in the country. Information and Communication technology is the reason why companies are becoming digitized in every other way. Increase in the usage of smartphones, expansion in the E-commerce industry, increase in bandwidth and growth in the 4G network of smartphones have all led to the development of the digitization process of India. One such implication of this revolution is increase in the usage of E-wallets for making payments by the retail consumers.

E-wallet is an application in which a prepaid account is opened in the name of the user, money is transferred from one’s bank account to this prepaid account and such an account then starts to function just like a traditional wallet. It can be used for paying utility bills, recharging smart cards, transferring money, making payments at retail stores and at E-commerce websites etc. E-wallets is slowly and steadily becoming one of the most preferred options for making payments. Following are the top 5 E-wallet companies that are changing the way of making payments in India.

· Paytm:

Paytm is one of the most popular mobile wallets in India that offers users an online payment platform for secure transactions. Paytm is a user-friendly application and easy to use. Paytm, which is now a payments bank too, has over the last 4-5 years expanded into e-commerce, ticketing, and distribution of financial products. As a payments bank, its focus is also on building a banking customer base and to sell other financial products. Paytm is available on both platforms, Android and iOS.

· MobiKwik:

Mobikwik wallet is an online payment wallet system where a person after logging in, can add money via his debit or credit card. After adding the money he or she can make transactions on mobile, DTH, pay electricity bills and much more. You can undertake all these transactions without any hard cash. MobiKwik is available to iOS, Android, and Windows Phone users.

· JioMoney:

JioMoney wallet has a simple interface and all the elements that matter are visible at once to users. For instance, your wallet balance, the option to recharge, send/request money, and pay at a shop are present on the main page itself. It is available in Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

· Oxigen:

Oxigen has a lively looking interface with a banner on special schemes running on top, followed by the options that are available. You can send or ask for money, pay bills and get recharges. Users feel secure with Oxigen while doing transaction because every time a six-digit one-time password (OTP) is sent to the registered mobile number. According to company website it has a retail footprint of 1,00,000 outlets and has processed over 2 billion transactions till date with a current transaction volume rate of 720 million transactions per annum. It has a large customer base of over 150 million. The Oxigen wallet app is available only to Android users.

· State Bank Buddy:

The mobile wallet app can be used to send money to new and registered customers, book movies, flights and hotels, as well as for shopping. It also has features like reminders to settle dues, recharge and pay bills instantly. This wallet app is available in 13 languages and allows users to set reminders for money transfers and clearing dues. The SBI Buddy app is available in Google Play Store and Apple App Store.The number of mobile wallet users in India is expected to grow from the current 200-250 million to around 500 million in the next couple of years.Cab rental services like Uber and Ola allow their customers to pay online using mobile wallets. Most digital wallets offer some discount or cashback for online payment.

ANALYSIS:

The questionnaire focused on Working Indian women for analyzing the usage of E-Wallets. Responses of 100 women have been studied and analyzed for the purpose of finding out the increase in the usage of E-Wallets. Some of the main responses have been analyzed below-

Figure 1: Percentage of women using E-wallet

Out of the 100 Working women surveyed, it is found that 96% are using E-Wallets, showing an increase in the number of usage of E-Wallets in India. Working Women prefer E-wallet as a mode of digital payment, as it is user friendly and easy to use.

Figure 2: Mosy liked E-wallet

With increase in the number of usage of smartphone users in India, a number of E-Wallets applications have been introduced in the market. For the purpose of analysis in this study, Paytm, Mobikwik, Oxigen, Statebank Buddy and Jio Money were included. Out of which it is found that the most used E-Wallet application is Paytm.

Figure 3: Frequency of using E-wallets

Working women prefer to use E-wallets on a weekly basis as compared to using it on bi-weekly or daily basis. Preference is also given to suing E-Wallets on a bi-monthly basis. Overall it can be said that E-wallets has become a desired mode of making payments for the goods and services being bought.

Figure 4: Reasons for using E-wallets

There are various reasons for which E-wallets are preferred over other modes of making payments. Convenience, cash back offers, fast service and instant availability are the various possible reasons for using E-wallets. Out of these, the most common reason found is convenience in using E-wallets. It is very easy to use an E-wallet. An application is to be downloaded on one’s smartphone. After that an account is to be prepared to which some amount of money is to be added. Such an E-wallet can be used for making a number of payments at various retail outlets easily.

Figure 5: Obstacles that people face while using E-wallets

Apart from the numerous benefits that E-wallets offer, there are a few obstacles that people face which restricts them using E-wallets. Security issues is one of the main reasons that stops people from using E-wallets. Risk of loosing personal information in case the smartphone is lost forms another reason of not using E-wallet. Also at times, making payments through E-wallets becomes a time consuming process.

CONCLUSION:

From this paper we can conclude that digital payment mechanisms in India are being widely accepted by the working women. They generally prefer to use E-wallets on a monthly basis. Out of the most prominent E-wallets available, the most preferred one is PAYTM. It is used by women quite frequently for the reason that it convenient to use and generally provides fast service. Other reasons for which women prefer E-wallets is the cash back offers and discounts that make the payment quite fruitful. But some women do resist using the E-wallets due to security issues. They generally fear that their personal information might get revealed. Risks of debit or credit card information being stolen are there in the minds of the user. Many cases of fraud have been registered that makes users averse E-wallets. But overall working Indian women have welcomed E-wallets as a preferred payment mechanism in this digital age where the country is moving towards being a digitized economy.

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Received on 17.07.2019 Modified on 05.08.2019

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2019; 10(4): 1101-1104.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2019.00181.5