Article’s

Abstract The rapid diffusion of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and related digital payment instruments across India’s informal economy has opened up fresh avenues for investigating how technology adoption shapes business outcomes at the micro level. This paper examines the interplay between digital payment adoption, customer convenience, and sales growth among sixty small vendors operating in the Pitam Pura commercial district of North Delhi. Drawing on structured survey data and grounding the analysis in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the study operationalises five adoption drivers — Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Risk, Trust and Security, and Social Influence — and tests their effects on a carefully constructed Customer Convenience construct and on Sales Growth. Multiple regression and Baron-Kenny mediation analysis reveal that Customer Convenience is the single strongest predictor of Sales Growth (β = 0.791, p < 0.001) and partially mediates the adoption-performance relationship. Perceived Usefulness and Trust and Security emerge as the dominant positive drivers, while Perceived Risk exerts a significant negative influence on convenience perceptions. All seven hypotheses proposed by the study find empirical support. The findings carry concrete implications for vendors, payment technology providers, financial institutions, and policymakers seeking to deepen digital financial inclusion in India's large informal sector.