DIGITAL BANKING AND ONLINE BANKING HABITS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NAGPUR CITY'S URBAN AND RURAL AREAS

Abstract

The banking industry is evolving at an alarming rate as the digital technological sectors are expanding and introduction of digital and online banking services has been a big hit. The present research paper aims to make comparisons between the digital banking and online banking behaviors between the consumers in the urban and rural sections of the Nagpur city. The research investigates such critical aspects as accessibility, frequency of usage, awareness and security and user satisfaction issues of digital banking platforms. This is a descriptive research design, and the primary data will be gathered with the help of a structured questionnaire which will be distributed to the respondents in the urban and rural locations. The statistical instruments that the study will be based on are the percentage analysis, means scores and comparative analysis, which will be used to identify the differences between the two segments in their banking behavior. The findings prove determine some disparity between urban and rural users. In urban centers, the respondents will adopt the same more and be more familiar with mobile banking apps and willing to undergo electronic transactions. The rural users are however limited in their use due to such issues as lack of digital illiteracy, lack of enough internet access and security and privacy. However, the paper also lists a growing interest of the rural population in assuming digital banking in line with the government initiatives and financial inclusion programs and also with the growing access to smartphones. This study concludes that, as much as digital banking has received massive impetus in the urban centers, definite measures ought to be taken to prevent the possible urban-rural gap. To make more citizens more inclined toward digital banking, one will have to mitigate such factors as the expansion of digital abilities and infrastructure elements and trust in secure platforms. The paper provides powerful lessons to policy makers, financial institutions and the rest of the stakeholders in shaping up challenges that would make the digital financial inclusion more effective in the newly developed urban rural settings.