Consumers more open for mobile transactions

MUMBAI, INDIA: Consumers in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are actively embracing mobile networks as their de facto telecommunications standard, even though there are concerns over privacy and data security, said an annual KPMG survey.

KPMG is the global network of professional services firms of KPMG International, who provide audit, tax and advisory services through industry focused, talented professionals.

Covering 22 countries, The Fourth Consumers & Convergence Report surveyed over 5,600 people on their day-to-day use of mobiles and PC technology.

The study shows that consumers in the world’s fastest developing economies, India and China, are leading the drive for personal banking and retail transactions via their mobiles, according to a new survey by KPMG.

Respondents from BRIC nations have demonstrated greater willingness to pay for both online and mobile content, compared to G7 or global users, including content like news and information. The survey found they would also consider switching Internet service providers for exclusive content.

According to the survey, consumers, particularly in Asia Pacific (APAC) are increasingly adopting a variety of mobile and cloud-computing applications. They are also more willing to use their mobile phones for financial transactions, as well as receiving ads in return for cheaper basic services.

In India, despite concerns over privacy and data security, 38 per cent of respondents said they have used their mobiles to shop from a retailer’s site, and 43 per cent for banking transactions (A significant increase over the previous survey, 8 per cent and 3 per cent respectively).

This is a global trend too. Compared with only 18 months ago, the global percentage of respondents who have used their mobile device for banking has more than doubled from 19 per cent to 46 per cent, while the percentage that have used it to buy goods and services has increased from 10 per cent to 28 per cent.

Jehil Thakkar, executive director, KPMG in India said, “Of those surveyed India, 5 per cent of total respondents conduct banking through a mobile device almost daily while 10 per cent do so weekly. 43 percent of those surveyed said that they have done banking through their mobile device at some point.”

He noted that this number was insignificant when compared to their last survey that used data of 2008. These results clearly indicate that mobile banking is being rapidly embraced by the Indian consumer.