After demonetization kicked in from November 8th, there had been an increase in digital transactions, due to obvious reasons. However, gradually, there has been a decline in the total number of cashless transactions, and critics of digital economy used this fact to oppose the expansion of cashless mode of payments.
However, these critics will need to rework their strategies now, because September witnessed one of the highest surges in digital transactions ever recorded. In fact, the value of cashless transactions has broken several records.
These details were scooped out from RBI’s latest data regarding digital transactions in India.
Another very interesting trend: Usage of debit cards and credit cards is gradually going down, and UPI and eWallets are now being preferred more for digital transactions.
And between UPI and eWallets, it is the UPI which is ruling the market of digital economy.
Digital Transactions Increase In September; Beat Records
As per RBI latest numbers, the total value of digital transactions increased to Rs 124 lakh crore in September, which is 13.5% more compared to August, when Rs 109 lakh crore worth of digital transactions was reported.
This surge is 2nd highest since November, when demonetization actually kicked in.
The highest surge in digital transactions was recorded in March, when the total value had touched Rs 149 lakh crore. (Note: March is the last month of the financial year).
However, the total number of digital transactions or the volume decreased from 883.4 million in August to 865.8 million in September. This is a marginal dip, but has a greater meaning: The average value of a digital transaction is increasing, and this is an excellent news for Digital India mission.
UPI/eWallets Beat Debit/Credit Cards
RBI has recorded the total number of digital transactions happening via credit and debit cards, the unified payments interface (UPI), unstructured supplementary service data (USSD), prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) and internet banking.
Among these, the highest increase has been reported in UPI and eWallets, and steepest fall has been recorded for debit/credit cards.
UPI witnessed a stunning growth of 85% in September, as the volume of transactions increased to 30.8 million in September, up from 16.6 million in August.
The value of transactions under UPI increased to Rs 5,293 crore in September from Rs 4,127 crore in August, which is an increase of 28%.
As per RBI data, the volume and value of UPI transactions have increased by 10 times since December.
When it comes to eWallets, then there is some encouraging news, as the numbers increased after continuous dip since last few months.
In the month of September, total of Rs2,759 crore worth of transactions took place via mobile wallets, compared to Rs2,722 crore in August. However, the volume of transactions decreased by 8% in the same period.
Interestingly, credit/debit card usage is going down steadily in India, as people are now ditching their usage. If we analyse the usage of debit/credit cards at PoS or Point of Sales, then only 229.2 million transactions happened in September, which is 5.7% less compared to August when 243 million transactions happened.
The value of transactions too decreased from Rs 45,708 crore in August to Rs 45,193 crore in September.
At the same time, usage of National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) increased by 4% and 2% respectively.
This means that besides cashless, Indians are now going cardless as well.
Govt. wants to achieve 25 billion digital transactions in this financial year under “DigiDhan Mission”, and going by the RBI numbers, it seems we are on the right track.
How much percentage is digital in your overall transactions? Are you still using cash?
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