IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0219450.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What explains low adoption of digital payment technologies? Evidence from small-scale merchants in Jaipur, India

Author

Listed:
  • Ethan Ligon
  • Badal Malick
  • Ketki Sheth
  • Carly Trachtman

Abstract

The availability of digital payment technologies (such as internet banking, mobile money, and credit/debit cards) has rapidly increased in the developing world, and is a cornerstone for financial inclusion initiatives in developing countries. Despite significant efforts to promote digital payments, rates of adoption remain modest in some low-income countries. In particular, the rate of adoption in India remains low despite significant efforts to promote adoption. In this paper, we consider possible reasons for the low rates of adoption among merchants in Jaipur, India with small fixed-location store enterprises. Using survey data for 1,003 merchants, we find little evidence that supply-side barriers to obtaining necessary infrastructure or meeting prerequisite requirements to adopt digital payments explain the low level of adoption. Merchants are able to obtain infrastructure to transact digitally (such as bank accounts and smart phones), fees on digital platforms are affordable, and merchants are sufficiently literate to be able to use digital payment systems. We conclude that adoption is both feasible and inexpensive. Therefore, low rates of adoption do not appear to be the result of supply-side barriers, but due rather to demand-side factors or taxes. We find direct evidence of such demand-side factors, such as a perceived lack of customers wanting to pay digitally, and concerns that records of mobile payments might increase tax liability. Our results thus suggest that simply lowering the costs associated with adopting these technologies is unlikely to be successful in increasing adoption of digital payments.

Suggested Citation

  • Ethan Ligon & Badal Malick & Ketki Sheth & Carly Trachtman, 2019. "What explains low adoption of digital payment technologies? Evidence from small-scale merchants in Jaipur, India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-22, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0219450
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219450
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0219450
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0219450&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0219450?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Townsend, Robert M, 1987. "Economic Organization with Limited Communication," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 954-971, December.
    2. Andrew D. Foster & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2010. "Microeconomics of Technology Adoption," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 395-424, September.
    3. Eaton, Jonathan & Kortum, Samuel, 1999. "International Technology Diffusion: Theory and Measurement," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 40(3), pages 537-570, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anusorn Minphimai, 2024. "Digital Payment, Household Consumption Behavior, and Financial Literacy," PIER Discussion Papers 219, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Prashant Sharma & Saurabh Sharma, 2023. "Mapping the Intellectual Structure of Mobile Payment Research: A Bibliometric Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, September.
    3. Ozili Peterson K., 2020. "Comparing Digital Finance in the UK, US, India and Nigeria," Financial Internet Quarterly (formerly e-Finanse), Sciendo, vol. 16(4), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Daniel Możdżyński & Wojciech Cellary, 2022. "Determinants of the Acceptance of Mobile Payment Systems by E-Merchants," Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations (JECO), IGI Global, vol. 20(1), pages 1-23, January.
    5. Eun Young Oh & Shuonan Zhang, 2022. "Informal economy and central bank digital currency," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(4), pages 1520-1539, October.
    6. Qing Xu, 2021. "East Asia and East Africa: Different Ways to Digitalize Payments," GREDEG Working Papers 2021-26, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    7. Abhipsa Pal & Rahul De’ & Tejaswini Herath, 2020. "The Role of Mobile Payment Technology in Sustainable and Human-Centric Development: Evidence from the Post-Demonetization Period in India," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 607-631, June.
    8. Ashwarya Kapoor & Rajiv Sindwani & Manisha Goel, 2024. "Decoding the conundrum: exploring complex interlinkages between mobile wallet adoption inhibitors among unorganised retailers," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(4), pages 1487-1502, December.
    9. Rasmi Ranjan Behera & Rajas Saroy & Sarat Dhal, 2023. "Digital Payments in Urban Odisha: Insights from a Primary Survey," Review of Development and Change, , vol. 28(2), pages 141-165, December.
    10. Yi-Xun Pang & Sin-Huei Ng & Wei-Theng Lau, 2022. "Digital Cashless Payments and Economic Growth: Evidence from CPMI Countries," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 30(2), pages 63-89.
    11. Ahsan, Md Nazmul & Thakur, Sounak, 2024. "The great Indian demonetization and gender gap in health outcomes: Evidence from two Indian states," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    12. Richa N. Agarwal, 2020. "The Role Of Effective Factors In Utaut Model On Behavioral Intention," Business Excellence and Management, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 10(3), pages 5-23, September.
    13. Pal, Abhipsa & Herath, Tejaswini & De', Rahul & Raghav Rao, H., 2021. "Why do people use mobile payment technologies and why would they continue? An examination and implications from India," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(6).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nancy Stokey, 2021. "Technology and Skill: Twin Engines of Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 40, pages 12-43, April.
    2. Beatrix Paal & Bruce D. Smith, 2013. "The sub-optimality of the Friedman rule and the optimum quantity of money," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 14(2), pages 911-948, November.
    3. Jinhua Xie & Gangqiao Yang & Ge Wang & Shuoyan He, 2024. "How does social capital affect farmers’ environment-friendly technology adoption behavior? A case study in Hubei Province, China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(7), pages 18361-18384, July.
    4. Mekonnen, Daniel Ayalew & Gerber, Nicolas & Matz, Julia Anna, 2018. "Gendered Social Networks, Agricultural Innovations, and Farm Productivity in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 321-335.
    5. Peter Bergman, 2020. "Nudging Technology Use: Descriptive and Experimental Evidence from School Information Systems," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 15(4), pages 623-647, Fall.
    6. Raphaël Soubeyran, 2019. "Technology adoption and pro-social preferences," CEE-M Working Papers halshs-02291905, CEE-M, Universtiy of Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro.
    7. Andrew B. Bernard & Jonathan Eaton & J. Bradford Jensen & Samuel Kortum, 2003. "Plants and Productivity in International Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1268-1290, September.
    8. Yuichi Furukawa & Taro Akiyama, 2006. "Innovation, standardization, and imitation in the product cycle model," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 6(13), pages 1-10.
    9. Sseruyange, J. & Bulte, E., 2018. "Do Incentives matter for Knowledge Diffusion? Experimental Evidence from Uganda," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 275896, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. B Kelsey Jack, "undated". "Market Inefficiencies and the Adoption of Agricultural Technologies in Developing Countries," CID Working Papers 50, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    11. Bretschger, Lucas & Lechthaler, Filippo & Rausch, Sebastian & Zhang, Lin, 2017. "Knowledge diffusion, endogenous growth, and the costs of global climate policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 47-72.
    12. Michael J. Andrews, 2020. "Local Effects of Land Grant Colleges on Agricultural Innovation and Output," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of Research and Innovation in Agriculture, pages 139-175, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Bensch, Gunther & Grimm, Michael, 2024. "Behavioural constraints in energy technology uptake: Evidence from real-purchase offers in rural Rwanda and Senegal," Ruhr Economic Papers 1081, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    14. Chen, Cheng & Senga, Tatsuro & Sun, Chang & Zhang, Hongyong, 2023. "Uncertainty, imperfect information, and expectation formation over the firm’s life cycle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 60-77.
    15. Antinolfi, Gaetano & Keister, Todd, 2006. "Discount Window Policy, Banking Crises, And Indeterminacy Of Equilibrium," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 1-19, February.
    16. Nicholas Bloom & Luis Garicano & Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen, 2014. "The Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(12), pages 2859-2885, December.
    17. Seong-Sang Lee & Yeonbae Kim, 2009. "The Impact of Efficiency Parameters on Firms Innovative Activities: Evidence from Korean Firm-level data," TEMEP Discussion Papers 200924, Seoul National University; Technology Management, Economics, and Policy Program (TEMEP), revised Nov 2009.
    18. Martin Nordin & Sören Höjgård, 2017. "An evaluation of extension services in Sweden," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 48(1), pages 51-60, January.
    19. James B. Ang & Jakob B. Madsen, 2012. "Risk capital, private credit, and innovative production," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(4), pages 1608-1639, November.
    20. Lukas Altermatt & Christian Wipf, 2024. "Liquidity, the Mundell–Tobin Effect, and the Friedman Rule," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 56(5), pages 1235-1259, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0219450. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.