Well, it’s 2022, and it seems we have already stepped into the future. Yes, the future of payments! Take a pause and look around; we have come a long way from coins to cash to digital payments.
Now imagine if you have a bill payment to make. An online bill payment will take less than 30 seconds, while an offline one will take half a day.
Gone are the days when people used to travel with cash and rely on them. Undoubtedly, digitalisation has saved many trips back to residences as well as ATMs in case people used to forget cash while travelling.
It is a well-known fact that with easy access to the internet, the penetration of smartphones has witnessed a rise in recent years. This has led to instant and cashless payments, hence, a great contribution to the ‘Digital India’ revolution. You might have witnessed that bank cash counters and ATMs are no longer crowded as cash withdrawals and deposits are just a few taps away.
Adopting tech for banking and payment through applications has made real-time fund transfers quick and hassle-free.
What are online payments?
Payments that are initiated over the internet for services or goods purchased either online or offline are known as online payments. One of the most common and trending methods to facilitate this is UPI (Unified Payment Interface). It is a real-time payment platform produced by the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) that supports online money transfers between bank accounts via a single application.
However, to make it simple for all the readers, you all might be using various applications for various kinds of payments. But I’ll honestly tell you that for the past three and a half months, I have been using the Bajaj Finserv application, which has let me delete all the other applications. It has become my go-to app for all kinds of payments.
What are the benefits of online payment?
As I above gave an example of how an online bill payment saves time, money, fuel and energy, it is clearly evident that online payments offer various benefits.
● Round-the-clock availability
Planning to deposit your electricity bill tomorrow by physically going to the office? Even if it’s too late for the day, you can easily make an online electricity bill payment. Since I have begun to use the Bajaj Finserv app, I haven’t visited the official centre to deposit the bill. I just pick up my smartphone, open the app and make the payment at any time of the day.
● Small transactions
Before online payments came into the game, you might have postponed many small payments to a local vendor. We all have done that! Now, you know that every vendor or shopkeeper is ready to accept online payment. So, all-in-all, this helps in even making small transactions and saves you a lot of time if you are trying to search for change.
● Cashbacks and Rewards
Another reason online payments have witnessed a rise in recent years and are going to boom is that there are rewards attached to them. From cashback to coupon codes, you are rewarded almost every time.
Whether it is an online electricity bill payment or a simple mobile recharge, people are increasingly dependent on online payments due to the feasibility and comfort that comes with it. Just a few taps on your smartphone, and voila, you are good to go. So, when was the last time you paid in cash?
