THE FACTORS INFLUENCING THE USAGE OF MOBILE BANKING IN INDIA

The Indian banking industry is poised to become the world's fifth largest by 2020 and third largest by 2025 (KPMG-CII report – “Distribution Disrupted”). The Indian banking sector comprises of 26 public sector banks, 20 private sector banks and 43 foreign banks along with 61 regional rural banks (RRBs) and more than 90,000 credit cooperatives. The impetus of the current government at the center, to expand the footprint of the banking facility to the hinterlands and to aggressively achieve the objective of financial inclusion, means that the banking industry is in for rapid expansion and growth. Given the geographical expanse of the country, the growth and expansion of this magnitude has to be ably supported by the extensive support of technology, the use of which is widely evident in the utilization of the latest technologies to conduct transactions, communicate with customers and provided better customer service. The application of Information Technology enables banks not only helps automate its processes but also communicate and connect with its customers seamlessly. With plethora of online applications in the offing, ranging from payment of bills, to conducting transactions and receiving communication, the banking industry is heavily banking on the adoption of such tech-applications as it would mean rapid expansion at a considerably low cost in comparison to the brick-and-mortar model. Through this study the author(s) intend to determine the factors that influence the usage of mobile banking services among customers. These factors are divided into two groups in terms of their impact; the first group represents the factors that drive customers to use mobile banking services, referred to as “Motivating Factors” and the secondgroup represents the factors that pose obstacles towards the use of mobile banking services, referred to as “Inhibiting Factors”. This study draws on the model proposed by Mahmood Jasim Alsamydai et al in a similar study conducted in Jordan and includes additional factors viz; intention, attitude, perceived usefulness, and the usage of mobile banking.