| Over the past few years, India has grown tremendously in adopting IT tools and applications, particularly because of its capability to provide software solutions to various companies worldwide. This growth has spurred a remarkable drive within the domestic banking industry to install the latest technology services, particularly in the Internet banking and e-commerce arenas. The banking industry in India, along with other global banking industries that have faced everchanging market conditions, have been forced to revamp their technology support, including the acceptance of Internet banking. The banking industry in India understood the need for deploying Internet banking, and thus launched this service in 1998. According to literature, Internet banking is a valuable service for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Many SMEs transport their merchandise to different countries and thus, have contributed significantly towards the commercial advancement of their nation. Unfortunately, due to many of the challenges being faced by SMEs, their growth is being limited. One such challenge is keeping up with information technology advancements. In India, the Small Scale Industries (SSI) sector accounts big contributions towards Indian economy. SMEs provide direct employment to nearly 20 million persons in about 3.6 million registered SSI units. Despite their prominence, Indian SMEs have endured heavy obstacles in order to maintain their existence. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting the acceptance of Internet banking among Indian SMEs using the UTAUT model as the conceptual framework. |
