India Beats China, US In Real-Time Transactions: 4 Cr Every 24 Hours, Highest In The World!

One good thing that came out during this pandemic is encouragement for online and touchless transactions.

Now India has become the global leader in real-time financial transactions with 41 million transactions per day, according to an international report.

FIS Report Findings

An interesting fact is, the recorded number is more than double that of the last year, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In addition to that, the transaction value also increased by over 80 percent.

The findings are mentioned in the latest report from FIS, which is a leading provider of technology solutions for merchants, banks and capital market firms globally.

Apart from India, six other countries also saw more than doubling their real-time payment transactions year-over-year.

On the other hand, four countries saw at least a twofold increase in

transaction value, as per the report released on Wednesday.

In terms of growth rate, Bahrain outperformed with 657 percent growth, followed by Ghana recording at 488 percent, the Philippines growing at 309 percent, Australia at 214 percent, and Poland at 208 percent.

While India recorded a growth of 213 percent, with handling 41 million transactions a day.

Factors Affecting The Growth

The industry experts say that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the usage of real-time payment methods in the country.

The report said, “India continues to innovate with the launch of extensive business services on real-time rails, including IPO subscription, mandate management, and invoice-in-the-box,”.

The head of Global Real-time Payments, FIS, Raja Gopalakrishnan said, “The current pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of instantly getting funds in the hands of those who need it, whether individuals or businesses,”.

The real-time payment is also revolutionized with the introduction of the Immediate Payment System (IMPS), and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in India. 

Currently, UPI is reaching a new high every month in volume terms and the ongoing pandemic has also accelerated the rate of adoption of digital payments.

Introducing Private Players Under NUE

So far, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has been very successful in democratizing digital payments in the last few years with the help of the launch of UPI.

Now, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also invited private players under a pan-Indian new umbrella entity (NUE) for retail payment systems. 

This move will further ensure that there are checks and balances to prevent monopoly and any concentration of risk in the hands of a single player.