Digital currency

India’s economy is witnessed as an unparalleled change as honourable Prime minster, Mr. Modi implemented stern economic policy of void of 1000 and 500 notes. Citizens of India now turned to use more digital media to pay money related activities.

In economic term, Digital currency is elaborated as the currency exchanged through Internet-based medium which is dissimilar from physical money such as banknotes and coins that displays akin properties to physical currencies. Digital currency allows people to do instant money transactions and borderless transfer-of-ownership. It is also denoted as virtual currencies and crypto currencies.

Digital currency is the requirement of this millennium and India must be progressive to match with industrialized countries for all round development.  In cutting edge Technology, electronic money has immense significance as majority of people prefer to have virtual wallets. Numerous news reports signified that political leaders of ruling party took great initiative to discourage use of the physical currency and to be substituted by digital currency. When physical currency declines, business and commerce should flourish. It has long term benefit for the future generation of India.

Digital mode of payment options in India:

I. Credit cards:  This mode of payment is the easiest way to buy goods and services and extensively used by Indian citizens. Millions of credits cards are being used to make online payments in India. Several international sites and mobile commerce sites allow people to pre-store their credit card number securely so that they do not have to key in the number each time. Presently in India, huge customer base is using credit cards for payments.

II. Debit card: It is next to credit card e-commerce payment procedure in India. With the debit card, customer can only pay for purchased goods with the money that already exists in the current or savings accounts as contrasting to the credit card where the amounts that the buyer spends are amassed and have to be paid for as a bill at the end of the billing period.

III. Mobile Money transfer: Mobile phone money transfer is trendy in India. It is the procedure of transmitting money from one person to another through phone activation that can be ultimately honoured with cash transactions by a financial or business institution.

To transfer money from mobile procedure, person must have saving or current bank account, mobile number registered in bank, mobile money identifier. It is a seven digit number issued by bank for person’s account.

SBI buddy, Gio Money and PayTM mobile wallet are other popular services to transfer money through mobile. User can do mobile recharges, pay several bills like can pay bills of taxi and auto rickshaw. They can use this PayTM app on their smartphones as it supports various platforms such as Apple iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry and Opera.  It is very simple to transfer money. Just scan QR code of recipient and transfer the money.

Electronic payment has myriads of advantages over traditional banking services:

1. Saves time: Digital currency used by people is beneficial to all level of people as it is transferred with in few minutes. Whereas, traditional means of money transfer like wire transfer or a postal one may take several days.

2. Expenses control: The digital or virtual account includes the details of all transactions indicating the store and the amount user has spent. People can check it at any time through logging into their bank account.

3. Digital currency has great benefit in terms of handling the count. It lessen the risk of loss and theft.

4. Low commissions:  If consumer pays for internet service provider or a mobile account replenishment through the UPT (unattended payment terminal), they will encounter high fees. But in electronic payment system, fee may be just 1% of the total amount.

5. Digital currency transaction is user-friendly:  Digital currency can reach wider audience. Additionally, there is a support team who often works 24/7 to resolve any query arising out in transaction process.

5. Convenience: Digital currency can be transferred to desired account with ease and there is no time boundary. There is no complicated system.

Though advancement of intent technology allured consumers as well as bank and financial organizations, it is not free from its drawbacks:

1. Restrictions: There is a limit in each payment system with regard to the maximum amount in the account, the number of transactions per day and the amount of output.

2. Chances of hacking: Customers or people who use internet technology for any financial transaction or sharing sensitive information are at risk of hacking. But if they follow the security rules, they are in minimal threat of cyber crook. 

3. Users also face issues of transferring money between different payment systems. Generally the majority of electronic payment systems are not compatible with each other. In this case, they have to use the services of e-currency exchange, and it can be exhausting.

4. The lack of secrecy:  The account information about all the transactions, including the amount, time and recipient are stored in the database of the payment system.

5. Internet access is must: In case of technical problem in Internet connection users cannot make online payment.

It is witnessed in high speed technically progressive world that digital currency plays a vital role in daily life as people like internet use. Most of the money form today is in electronic in developed countries.