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Business News/ Money / Calculators/  How to turn your investments and payments digital 
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How to turn your investments and payments digital 

If you still using physical documents to do your investing or make payments, here is what you should try

Saumya Khandelwal/Hindustan TimesPremium
Saumya Khandelwal/Hindustan Times

Technology has entered all spheres of our lives. For instance, you have an app to check the number of kilometers you walk or run, an app to shop and even to tell you when to drink water.

Technology hasn’t spared your financial life either. Whether it is investments, savings or payments; tech is there. Both banks and fintech companies have solutions to make investments and payments paperless and digital.

If you still are using physical documents to do your investing or to make payments, here is some of what you should try.

Many of us invest money in financial instruments such as fixed deposits, fixed income products, mutual funds, and small savings schemes; for both short-term and long-term goals.

Investing, in the bygone era, meant loads of paperwork—read that as at least a couple of photocopies of your identity proofs, a photo, and a cancelled cheque.

It also involved some legwork, because all these duly filled documents had to be mailed or sent by courier to the respective financial institutions, before you could start to invest. Not anymore. Technology can let you do all these simply by pressing buttons on a keyboard and a mouse.

There are many fintech companies such as FundsIndia, Scripbox, MyUniverse and 5nance that let you do all this online. “We allow consumers to upload their cancelled cheques online, doing away with the requirement of sending a physical copy," said Sreekanth Meenakshi, founder, FundsIndia.com. Some of the asset management companies have also started using eKYC, which allows paperless opening of accounts.  Similarly, fixed deposits (FDs) with your bank can also be opened over internet banking or your banking app. In case you want to go for a corporate FD, fintech companies will allow you to open it and invest from their websites.

The Reserve Bank of India, through its arm National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI), has introduced multiple electronic payment systems in order to build a railroad for payments.

For every transaction, there are multiple payment options now. For instance, to pay your mobile bill you can use websites or apps of your: bank, mobile service provider or an e-wallet company. You can choose the option that is most suited to you. You may choose one over the other due to better costs or sometimes even for better cashbacks or reward points.

Bill payments made using any of the electronic systems are usually at no extra charge for the consumers. However, merchants end up paying a charge, up to 2%, for these transactions. 

Digital transaction are convenient and cost-effective. However, when you get convenience, you also need to be careful about certain security concerns. To begin with, never share your password or personal identification number (PIN) with anyone. Avoid logging into your bank’s website from an open internet connection or a free Wi-Fi hotspot. In case you get a call from anyone asking details of your bank account, the card verification value (CVV) number on your card, or PIN; do not disclose anything. If you get an alert for a transaction that you have not done, inform your bank immediately. Also, before doing any transaction online, read the bill of charges carefully to prevent any unnecessary expense.

In case you there is a dispute relating to an online transaction, you can use the records maintained by your service provider to make your case.

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Published: 02 Apr 2017, 06:53 PM IST
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