Indians still prefer cash on delivery | Fusion - WeRIndia

Despite measures taken to discourage the use of cash, majority of Indians still prefer cash on delivery option.

A report published in Quartz on Monday revealed that the e-commerce sector in the country is worth ₹1,00,000 crore. And most of the customers depend on cash payments or cash on delivery option.

During the demonetization period, the cash on delivery (COD) payment reduced to 40 percent. But again after that the percentage increased to 60 to 65 percent.

There are several reasons for the continuation of COD in online shopping. Some of them include: lack of trust, inadequate cyber laws and infrastructure problems.

The Reserve Bank of India has also said that COD is not permissible. Yet, the norms are confusing and that’s why COD is still prevalent and a preferred choice for majority of customers.

At the same time, entrepreneurs are not interested in the COD option. This is because, their product is going out immediately, but they get the money only after the customer receives the product.

That means, their cash is not visible on their balance sheet at the end of the day. Digital payments are almost transferred to their accounts immediately whereas the cash in COD option will take at least a week.

Furthermore, COD involves additional costs. Some of the risks involved with COD are: Failure of delivery, delay in returning cash collected by courier companies, and accountability etc.

All these reasons make the e-commerce companies want to avoid COD. Yet, for the sake of the customers, they provide the option.

The companies are trying to bring a change in the behavior of customers. They are changing the COD orders to prepaid with cash banks, discounts etc.

And thus, the non-COD mode of payments are rising.

Image credit: Image by Hany Alashkar from Pixabay (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://pixabay.com/it/illustrations/consegna-del-cibo-la-festa-del-lavoro-5217579/