Not sure what to make of that statement, but the majority of people and shops prefer cash.
Yes we have instant payment apps, but shops hate them.
Also banking is not exclusively online,
But, cutting off access is still bad.
I am a resident of a small metro called. Bengaluru, where almost every shop run by a person who is under the age of 50 accepts UPI.
If I don't have exact change, my local bodega owner tells me to just UPI Maadi. (Ofcourse, it is anecdotal, and on occasion I have had to rustle up cash to pay the rare shopkeeper who doesn't have UPI yet).
At any rate, let me relate my experience living a reasonably ordinary day: 6 AM buy milk from nandini parlour near the park, payment using UPI 7AM take bus to college/work: payment via UPI (as i have a digital bus pass) 8AM morning coffee at cafe: payment UPI 12 PM lunch, also UPI 6 PM groceries for the night/breakfast, payment UPI, at a small roadside vendor.
I do concede that my life is rather privileged, and the areas i go around in are not very high rent.
This year, when i went on a trip to coastal Karnataka, i used all of ~700 INR in the form of cash, ~5% of my trip budget for 4. Of that 700, only 200 went towards paying vendors. The rest went towards donations in temples.
The areas i travelled to however, were not the very touristy places, but rather more ordinary places, with reasonable hotels.