India’s mobile-payment expansion sharpens a behavioral question: when does confidence in a banking application become routine dependence? This study analyses questionnaire data collected in May 2026 from 149 mobile-banking users across all zones of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, using convenience sampling to test whether digital banking trust predicts usage dependence and whether age, gender, or preferred application category conditions that relationship. Four trust items and three positively framed dependence items were measured on five-point scales. The negatively framed necessity item was excluded from the primary dependence composite after reliability diagnostics showed that its inclusion reduced alpha from 0.837 to 0.535. Trust showed strong internal consistency (alpha = 0.903), as did the retained dependence scale (alpha = 0.837). Trust correlated strongly with dependence, r = 0.722, p < .001, and robust ordinary least squares estimation indicated that a one-point increase in trust corresponded to a 0.800-point increase in dependence, 95% CI [0.693, 0.907], R² = 0.522. The study did not detect statistically reliable moderation by age (p = .512), reported gender (p = .081), or preferred application category (interaction ps ≥ .615). Third-party UPI applications were preferred by 116 respondents (77.9%). The evidence tentatively suggests that earned confidence, rather than demographic segmentation alone, is central to repeated mobile-banking reliance. Interpretation remains bounded by convenience sampling, cross-sectional self-report measurement, small institutional-application cells, limited procedural documentation, and the absence of direct PMT measures.,