Fair Digital Finance for more consumer centric rights

Acknowledging and recognizing the rights of consumers and encouraging more awareness and knowledge-gathering on consumer rights is becoming even more crucial today. Every year, Consumers Rights Day is celebrated with a theme to focus on pressing issues faced by consumers. A day is set aside to remind consumers about their rights.

A quick flashback shows that the year 2021 focused on the theme ‘Tackling Plastic Pollutions’ and in 2019, a global study showed that 82% of world citizens were aware of the increasing plastic pollution and were already making conscious efforts to reduce plastic use.

Fair Digital Finance

Come the year 2022, true to the need of the hour, ‘Fair Digital Finance’ was the global theme for Consumers Rights Day. Here, the focus was on the growing use of digital payments as it has become the most preferred mode of transaction for consumers. Digital transactions have become the key enabler for consumers to avail the services provided in all industrial sectors.

The emphasis now is on expanding knowledge among consumers globally about how financial services will pave way for simple methods of payments and other added benefits. There have been several modes of payments established since there is a rise in demand for digital platforms for payment methods. The Fintech sector has been booming by introducing various modes of online transactions. Some of the common ones include Razor pay, BHIM, Google pay, Amazon Pay, Paytm, etc.  

The Great Shift

With the current scenario, there has been a surge in businesses shifting to digital modes of transactions. The estimated expansion of online transactions globally is 20.5% from the year 2022 to 2030. The growth in business’s functionalities is measured only after the consumers are shifting to real-time payment methods, thereby increasing the market and economic growth rapidly. Implementing online transaction modes to businesses has also brought several positive aspects to organizations including making tracking of payments quick and easy, control over transactions, reduced manual work and increased time to focus on crucial tasks and security towards online transaction database.

The government of India has also developed a Yojana which entails everyone to create bank accounts for availing of better financial services. The ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ is for every Indian household to own a bank account, avail financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension facility. The Yojana was created basically for that group of consumers who are unbanked and are unaware of the benefits of owning financial services. Thus, the scheme helps the masses to gain awareness of the new financial benefits and enables them to function on a digital financial platform.   

The Rural Wave

With the rise in the digital era globally, there is a growing number of individuals in rural India using online payments as their primary mode of financial transactions. It has also changed the functioning methods of the Indian local market and economy. UPI transactions have been a boon to the local vendors and big shops and businesses simultaneously. Online transaction is not only beneficial for SME, but it is also proving beneficial for the environment.

As consumers, it is crucial to fathom the rights one holds to completely comprehend the global market and economy. Moreover, rights need to be protected and preserved by the customers to build an understanding based on the evolving market and its functioning processes. Now more than ever, it’s crucial to build on what we know and come together to comprehend fair financial services look in a digital world.