Mobile Banking – An Answer to Financial Inclusion in Hilly Rural India.

Abstract

Financial Inclusion is still a major challenge for the India, despite of being one of major agenda since 2004-2005, due to difficulty in reaching far flung areas of the country comprising 600,000 villages. This has huge implications on economic development of the country. Therefore there is regular thrust from Government of India (GoI) to bring everyone to the ambit of formal banking system through various schemes. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA) is one of the major GoI schemes that have contributed significantly to financial inclusion in India. India has more mobile connections compared to banking accounts, therefore GoI in Economic Survey 2014-15, proposed JAM (JanDhan Yojana, Aadhar Number and Mobile Number) trinity to use ICT for more efficient and effective spread of formal banking even to the hilly areas where brick and mortar banks are difficult to build and sustain. Hence to understand the constructs of mobile banking adoption for financial inclusion in Champawat district of Uttrakhand, India under MNREGA, this research discusses revised technology acceptance model (TAM) and carefully picked constructs from literature review which were weaved together by using Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM) to form a conceptual model for Champawat District of Uttrakhand, India.