Cashless Society and Development of Gender-Friendly Services Through Mobile Wallet

Introduction

The era of the digital revolution has penetrated almost every aspect of human life and we are experiencing the 4^th Industrial revolution which is evolving at an exponential rate. The development of the Internet and the emergence of e-commerce have a significant impact on online as well as offline shopping. It leads to a change in the traditional economic theory and practice. The era of the digital revolution has penetrated almost every aspect of human life. Similarly, ICT contributes significantly to the expansion of globalization. One of the simplest examples is the invention of mobile technology which offers much more than just being one of the primary sources of communication. At the same time, different ICT tools with mobile devices led to the inception of smartphones which has given the potential of managing various additional tasks apart from offering connectivity.

At its peak, Web 2.0 has created greater interactivity between multiple users while building numerous opportunities, especially for business. As a result, it brought new forms of communication among the business customers where they were able to exchange messages amongst one another quickly. It also created a pool of knowledge sharing and trading online. So, it was a convergence between the physical and virtual space where virtual is gradually overcoming the challenges which the physical tend to offer. Trading over the Internet is usually referred to as e-commerce which involves making financial transactions over the Internet, Web, and mobile applications in exchange for products or services (Qin, et.al 2014; Jackson, 2015; Mallawaarachchi, 2019). E-commerce also brought the idea of market-at-doorstep which allows the consumers to select from multiple varieties of online stores offering a diverse range of products through a single window of operation is a big game-changer for the existing markets all across the globe. Now the consumer is no longer limited to the geographical boundaries rather they are exposed to such a space where knowledge on any kind of commodity situated anywhere across the globe, could be accessed at any point in time via ICT. So, technology and standards of data transfer over the Internet have become a universal medium of business information exchange and in many ways have defined business principles in the field of e-commerce. Therefore, in a broad sense, electronic commerce is an entrepreneurial activity that implements commercial transactions with the use of electronic means of data exchange.

In addition, e-commerce covers commercial transactions carried out with the help of information networks to transfer rights to use a product or service (Laudon & Traver, 2007; Mallawaarachchi, 2014). However, Information technology is a reality of the modern economy, and entrepreneurship is inconceivable without electronic trading methods, without sales promotion on the Internet. The use of the Internet radically transforms the processes of economic cooperation between the companies and their customers, partners, suppliers, and even competitors. Methods and means of carrying out commercial transactions in e-commerce are somewhat different from those carried out in the real economy (Albadr, 2003).

Therefore, the idea of mobile-based payments is introduced as a new platform for the global markets as a means of exchange of goods and services and also as a payment method. Man has sought to evolve the means of exchange to such a progressive stage where the sale and purchase of goods and services have been made as easy and convenient as possible. From the traditional modes of barter system to the gradual shift to minted coins and later on to gold and currency and plastic cards are some of the clear indicators on how man has utilized the knowledge in making different kinds of exchange of commodities and services within domestic and beyond, possible with lesser complications.