Even as the affects of the recent demonetisation are still waning, mobile wallets which were once the saviour for lakhs of Indians till recently, are already losing sheen. One reason for the mobile wallets losing popularity is the restoration of the cash flow in the markets, second and perhaps, more pertinent reason is the lack of awareness on the usage of these mobile wallets that is forcing the shopkeepers, auto rickshaw drivers, small time wares sellers, vegetable vendors etc to return to the "good old" currency notes.
A random check with auto rickshaw drivers and shopkeepers in the city reveals the growing breed of the discontented mobile wallet users who have already switched back to cash and are saying no to wallets.
Shyam Sunder, an auto rickshaw driver in East Delhi area, who was accepting fares through a popular mobile wallet since two weeks after the demonetisation was announced on November 8, 2016 until last week, said, " I have stopped accepting money through these mobile wallet apps. It's very cumbersome for someone like me to use".
"Initially I had to resort to its use since there was a sudden cash crunch post demonetisation, but now that the cash flow is slowly increasing, I am happy to accept the crisp currency notes over e-payment modes any day," he added.
Neeta, who runs a small grocery store from her house in Pocket Iv Mayur Vihar, Phase I, has started turning down customers who want to make payments through mobile wallet apps. She says, "It was a necessity till about a month and a half ago but now that people have enough cash to buy groceries, I do not want to deal with the whole money transfer from mobile wallet app to my bank account".
"Once we breach the specified amount, we end up paying a small percentage of the amount towards transaction fee. Although, the mobile wallet app says that these charges are levied by the bank and not the app, I do want to part with even a small percentage of my earning and why should I?" she questions.
However, many people, mostly youngsters who were simply happy not to bother with carrying cash around, are a disheartened lot. Twenty-year-old Vaishali, who is pursuing a degree in Fashion Technology in Noida, says, " For once I was happy not to pester my parents who were giving me cash every week for expenses. My father would put money in my mobile wallet at the beginning of the week and I would not have to worry about cash for the rest of the days".
"Off late, auto rickshaws have started refusing to take money through these mobile apps. In the past one week, it has happened with me four times. Even the tuck shop near our college has stopped accepting e-payments. It is indeed very inconveniencing again," she rued.
Besides, these are many other reasons for the lack of interest in using these mobile wallets apps such as lack of familiarity with the smartphone and internet itself, not used to digital payments in the first place. Besides, many shopkeepers also complain that some customers do not know how to use these wallet apps for shopping and end up charging the shopkeepers mobile instead resulting in disputes.