Abstract
Banking and Financial Institutions (BFIs) show the growth of development of a country. Digital literacy and its development in a country depend on its use by the citizens of a country. In India, they have recently made strides in using digital technology due to fast development in the Internet technology. The recent “World Report on Disability” by World Health Organization (WHO) puts the disabled populations in the world at 15%. There are 26.81 million Indians who suffer from some form of disability. This research study critically probes the two determinants of the digital divide: (a) the accessibility of websites of banks and (b) the accessibility of financial and banking information on their websites. United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) guidelines has been ratified by Government of India in 2007. The websites of 103 BFIs in India were used for the study. The research study work started on December 3, 2013; it being the World Day of the Disabled. The study aimed for evaluating the websites in terms of media tool for communication, information, services, accessibility, design, and interactive participatory features for persons with disabilities. The study showed that 26% of the websites under study and 5% International BFIs in India offered information in vernacular medium, while only seven websites of the BFIs in India passed markup validation test.
Highlights
Banking and Financial Institutions (BFIs) show the growth of development of a country
This study aimed at requirements and qualities of a website designed by BFIs in India in terms of design, formal and accessible features, necessary precautions were taken to select the websites available on the list of BFIs as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report 2013 published by the Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR), RBI in the year 2012-13, to assess and measure accessibility features
It was observed that all the websites of BFIs in India could be opened using the Universal Resource Locator (URL) provided in the list of banks published by the DEPR, RBI in the year 2012-13
Summary
Banking and Financial Institutions (BFIs) show the growth of development of a country. BFIs in India offer people help in investments, loans to increase their business, income, and worth. They are used by BFIs in India, as an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) medium. According to Gerry McGovern (2006), “a website is increasingly the place where customers get that vital first impression” (December 5, 2013). Accessibility of these websites to PWDs will be the test of their global reach. All the BFIs in India offer people help in investments, loans to increase their business, income, and worth guided and monitored by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations
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