Digital Banking Units: Perception and Receptivity of Customers in Rural India.

Digital Banking Units (DBUs) are established to enable the digital ecosystem, which improves customer experience by facilitating seamless banking transactions and ensuring that banking services reach the last mile. The very purpose of DBUs is to benefit people in small towns and villages with digital infrastructure for banking services. 75 DBUs (four in Karnataka) were proposed in the Union Budget 2022-23. The success of DBUs depends on the rural customers’ digital literacy and preparedness for using digital banking services. The study aims to assess the perception of rural customers and evaluate their preparedness for adopting DBU services. Primary data was collected from 200 respondents using a structured questionnaire. Secondary sources include annual reports, RBI publications, research papers, journals, magazines, and newspapers. Descriptive analysis and factor analysis, using SPSS version 24, of the collected data were done. The study finds that the rural population is more accustomed to branch banking and their dependency on face-to-face banking is high, but the respondents’ education, occupation, and digital literacy level, their association with the bank, usage of debit cards, mobile banking, and Internet banking indicate their receptiveness to digital banking services. Though it is not their first banking choice, the respondents do use technologybased bank applications for certain transactions. Adequate digital infrastructure and awareness will encourage them to avail all digital banking services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]