Digital payment system for economic sustainability. A case study of Gujarat Narmada Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd in India

Digital payment system (DPS) is witnessing growth day by day, especially, in Asian and European countries. E-banking, electronic payment, cashless or less cash economy, digital economy, Digital payment system are all synonymously used to represent new technology in use. Many researchers have discussed about DPS practices leading to economic and sustainable development, its significance and challenges, factors for intention to use and adoption etc. This paper discusses implementation process of a 100% cashless township, created in India. With digitalization, one cannot rule out the ambiguity with issues like cyber security, digital identity and related policies, and hence we see people conveniently using both, cash and card system. But in India, once being tagged as fully digital village is switching back to the old all cash mode. So the much promising digital village initiatives have fallen flat. Hence this paper presents a case of a government company, which has fostered a responsible action in subordinating governments’ ‘Digital India program’. In 2016, GNFC has created first 100% Cashless Township in Gujarat, India, consisting of 5000 permanent residents and 10,000 floating population and still continue to transact in digital-only form. This sustainable model has been replicated to more than 100 townships across the country and is adoptable to rural areas to enable successful ‘Digital Villages‘. We also discuss the sustainable impact generated to the stakeholders in the township. We use primary data and secondary data to collect required information and use Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to identify user adoption and acceptance factors in GNFC s digital-only mode of payment system.