A Gurgaon-based student uses YouTube to get investing lessons. A home maker from Kolkata can digitally pay for her groceries and get them delivered at her doorstep. A medicine shop owner in New Delhi is happy that even customers who may have forgotten their wallets at home or run out of cash can buy from his shop using their phones. A corporate couple based out of Noida only ever withdraw cash when they need to pay their house help or the local vendor. A senior citizen couple in Kolkata love to remain connected with their children and grandchildren through WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
Digitalisation is a refrain that we have all been hearing for the past few years, but it is only after Covid forced common Indians indoors that it really played out and touched our lives in numerous ways. From ordering in groceries to a fancy vase or dress, from paying property tax to investing in the latest stocks or cryptocurrency, from opening a bank account to buying an insurance policy or filing taxes online from anywhere, digitalisation has become enmeshed in our daily lives in ways that we could not have imagined even a year or two ago.
What started as a means to facilitate social distancing in the thick of the Covid pandemic in 2020, took a more distinct shape in 2021, as people got used to the convenience and ease of making digital transactions and online social connections from the comfort of their homes. So, as 2021 draws to a close and we start hanging the New Year bells, it’s time to look at how much digitalisation has become part of our social habitus. In this issue of Outlook Money, we list out the range of digital services that investors, depositors and consumers can avail of if they aren’t already doing so.
As we negotiate newer ways to interact, invest and enjoy digitally, we are witnessing fundamental changes in how we invest even in traditional instruments such as gold. In our special story in this issue, we look at how Indians are expressing their love for the yellow metal not just by buying jewellery but through novel forms like paper gold. Some are even looking at replacing this much-loved commodity with other asset classes.
The quest for novelty is also taking investors to foreign shores, where benefits of diversification and high returns beckon. And, while you take your investments on a global trip, it may be a good idea to take one yourself this holiday season, now that most countries have lifted restrictions. But it would do you well not to forget packing in that travel insurance cover. The world is still in the grips of the pandemic, which may seem to be abating but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
While on that trip, make sure that you and your loved ones maintain a critical distance from your phones. After all, our most intimate emotions do not need digital mediation. But, perhaps, that’s the flip side of digitalisation that we all must live with.
Nidhi Sinha
Editor, Outlook Money
nidhi@outlookindia.com