Digital transactions got major fillip after note ban: report

New Delhi: Digital transactions have increased remarkably both in terms of value and volume in the past one year, according to a report released by digital media tracker MediaNama Tuesday.

The report, titled Digital Payments in India: Demonetization Edition, said cashless transactions had received a major fillip following the ban on high-value banknotes in November.

These include transactions conducted via credit and debit cards, unified payments interface (UPI), prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), mobile wallets, Internet banking and mobile banking.

There has been around a 200%, 165% and 45% growth in the amount transacted using mobile banking, debit cards and credit cards respectively. Year-on-year (YoY) growth has been calculated by comparing the data of March for last year and this year.

The number of debit cards rose 29% from 661.8 million in March last year to 854.9 million and the number of credit cards went up by 21.8% from 24.5 million to 29.8 million. The number of debit card transactions increased by 158.3 million whereas credit card transactions grew by 34 million. However, the average amount per transaction decreased YoY for credit cards by Rs46 from Rs 3,142 in March last year to Rs 3,096, and increased YoY for debit cards by Rs124 from Rs1,193 to Rs1,316, said the report.

From October to March, the highest number of debit card transactions was recorded in December with around 415 million transactions worth Rs58,031 crore. The highest number of credit card transactions was recorded in January with around 118.8 million transactions worth Rs32,691 crore.

The report said demonetisation led to the amount transacted using PPIs almost doubling YoY. There was a 33% growth in the number of transactions from 54.1 million in March 2015 to 72 million in March 2016 whereas a 375% growth was recorded in the last one year with transactions reaching around 342 million.

Between October 2016 and January, there was a jump of over 80% in both number of transactions and amount transacted through PPIs.

“Mobile banking transactions peaked in December 2016. At 110.6 million, these were more than double of 44.7 million a year prior. Amount transacted almost tripled at Rs149,818 crore in December, compared to Rs54,000 crore in December 2015,” the report said.

According to RBI data released earlier this month, transactions across UPI hit 6.9 million in April—a record—against 6.2 million the previous month. In terms of value, there was around 8% decline, from Rs23.9 billion in March to Rs22 billion in April. Since December, UPI transaction volumes were up about 252%.

“The UPI went live in August 2016 and has got a huge fillip following demonetisation. Growth appears to have been impacted by the launch of the BHIM app towards the end of December 2016,”the report added.

BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 30 December. BHIM has already witnessed close to 20 million downloads, according to Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog.

Also, the number of transactions via Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) grew 148% year on year from 26.23 million in February last year to 65.15 million in February 2017.The number of accounts increased 48% during the same period, the report said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.