Digital Payments Rise By 30% In India Due To Lockdowns, Pandemic: Indians Using Less Cash Now?

As per data revealed by the RBI, digital payments have seen a huge growth, as much as 30.19% during the year that ended March 2021. 

This clearly reflects the increasing adoption of digital payments by the citizens of the country.

As we reported to you earlier, in the year 2020, India with 25.5 billion real-time payments transactions was ahead of China with 15.7 billion real-time payments transactions.

Read on to find out all the details given out by the RBI!

Digital Payments Record Growth of 30.19% In The Last Year

As per the data by the Reserve Bank of India, in the year that ended in March 2021, digital payments have recorded a growth of 30.19%. 

There are many consumer and business behavior changes due to the pandemic and all the entities of the payment ecosystem such as banks merchants and intermediaries are adapting quickly and prioritizing the shift to digital amongst all other priorities.

As per the Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI), which has recently been constituted, the index has taken a hike to 270.59 at the end of March 2021, which has increased from 207.84 a year ago.

The RBI said, “The RBI-DPI index has demonstrated significant growth in the index representing the rapid adoption and deepening of digital payments across the country in recent years.” 

Parameters of Reserve Bank of India – Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) 

The announcement was previously made by RBI that a composite Reserve Bank of India – Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) with March 2018 as the base. This will help record the extent of digitization of payments throughout the country.

This RBI-DPI includes five broad parameters: Payment Enablers (weight 25 per cent); Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors (10 per cent); Payment Infrastructure – Supply-side factors (15 per cent); Payment Performance (45 per cent); and Consumer Centricity (5 per cent).

These will enable the measurement of deepening and penetration of digital payments in India at various time periods. As per RBI’s notice in January, the index will be published semi-annually from March 2021 onwards. However, it will be with a lag of four months.