Since 1991, India has been implementing liberalization, globalization and privatization
policies and as a result, technology has become cheap. Information Technology (IT)
has been penetrating slowly into different sectors, and especially in banking,
entertainment and education sectors, there is a tremendous impact of IT along with
telecommunications. Technology is increasingly used for transactions in banks and
various government departments like railways, transport, communications and
electricity.
Following globalization, goods and services are increasingly traded by using IT
rather than physical infrastructure, which has created a spurt in the growth of
e-commerce. Less than 10% of the Indian population had any idea of the computers
and the usage of mobile phones in the early 1990s. But now, India has over 800 million
mobile users (second only to China) and over 150 million users of Internet (ranked
third in the world).
The banking sector plays a prominent role, along with government, in this growth
of trade, simply called ‘e-commerce’, i.e., exchange of information, goods and services
and payments by electronic means. Simply, it is the process of two or more parties
making business transactions on the Internet. While banks/financial institutions have
taken advantage of liberalization, the easy availability of technology has made millions
and millions of people use technology and get quality service. Though there has been
an increase in Internet usage, still 90% of Indians buy groceries in a shop by checking
goods physically, and with cash down payment.
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