COVID-19 echo: Digital Transactions Necessitated!
Posted on: 31/Mar/2020 3:13:14 PM
We are in the lockdown domain now - The government has initiated a 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, allowing only essential services to operate!
Surely, operating such services still require some form of human contact, which is best avoidable during these times. While not all human contact can be avoided, people can certainly go contactless as far as some services like payments and banking are concerned.
Promoting digital transactions is nothing new! In fact, the government has been promoting digital payments for long! Now, these options are essential to maintain social distancing. The best way to achieve this is the use of online billers and UPI and wallet apps. For paying online bills, most banks have incorporated bill desk in their online banking options. The system is easy, and users can discover that they can also set bill payments to automatic withdrawal. However, if you are uncomfortable using such services, apps like PayTM and PhonePe allow bill payments via their platform.
Mandar Agashe, founder and vice-chairman, Sarvatra Technologies, a payment solutions provider, informs: India is still in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak and many precautionary measures are being taken to prevent the spread. However, considering the current situation, contactless payments could be the way ahead and payment modes like UPI, IMPS, RTGS, mobile wallets and net banking could contribute effectively in reducing human interactions.
Many initiatives have been taken so far by banks and payment companies to promote cashless payments!
Despite this, Bhavin Patel, CEO & founder, LenDenClub, a P2P lending platform, believes more needs to be done. He observes: I believe it is also an ideal time to enable the public to get acquainted with the ease and flexibility of digital payments. Institutions like banks can consider increasing the limits on contactless payments, while payments companies and aggregators should consider incentivizing their payment options.
Beware of hackers!
The coronavirus pandemic can be a chance for the government to make India truly contactless!
But it is also important for people to maintain a clean bill of health for their gadgets. COVID-19 has undoubtedly affected millions of people, but its wider impact has been felt on the economy. As people have been locked up at home, brand companies are hurting. Offices, however, have discovered that work from home can be as productive as an office. Employees are also adjusting course to this new way of working. But this extensive use of the internet and work from home has meant the use of personal laptops for office work. While companies have a way of ensuring enterprise security on work systems, at home, where most people use the internet from a low-gradede Wi-Fi device and personal systems with little protection, there is little that is there in terms of security.
Thus, coronavirus provides a breeding ground for hackers to exploit these vulnerabilities, which not only puts your office data at risk but also can impact your financial health. One of the easiest ways to attack a computer is by using email phishing, and reports indicate that such attacks have increased manifold since the coronavirus threat. Hackers are using email phishing to send information about coronavirus to people in the form of attachments. As the person downloads the attachment, they infect the computer with a virus. This can also be a key-logger, which can steal your passwords and put your financials in danger.
