Attitude of the Community towards Digital payments Usage in Thrissur District - with special reference to Digital- Economy District initiative

Abstract

The possibility of digitally empowered district, to be encouraged by public sector banks, is opportune however challenges are in abundance. Reserve Bank of India has induced a dedication from banks to spot one district in every State to form it one hundred percent digitally-enabled within a time-frame of 1 year. Thrissur district in Kerala has been selected for the purpose. After demonetization, the pandemic has brought huge changes in the way the customers make their transaction. With huge penetration of mobiles and increasing reach of web may pose some challenges to area-based approach to transformation .This has created an opportunity for the district to implement the idea. It is important to know the community’s' attitude towards the Cash-less , Contact -less, Paper-less district initiatives and to know the barriers hindering towards making Digital transaction. For which, Primary data was collected from 82 respondents by using convenience sampling method. The study focused to find the factors that influence the Community's attitude and barriers like network issues, lack of knowledge in using technology, charges, very laborious, not user friendly, etc. That effect the users in making digital transaction. The empirical findings of this study indicates that perceived usefulness, relative advantage, convenience, privacy and safety have indirectly and directly affected community's attitude towards Digital payment usage. The other main significant factor is confidence in the payment system. It is also evident that who had trust in service providers and regulators seem to have a greater likelihood of paying digitally. Digital usage attitudes are mainly affected by perceived relative advantage. It is found that there is significant differences between users and non-users concerning their attitudes towards Digital transactions. And the Gender, Age and education level are found to be major determinants of attitude patterns.