The Rise Of Digital Payments

The digital trend, which has picked up as an immediate aftermath of the government’s announcement to demonetise high-value currency notes, is expected to continue and create a lasting impact.

- Ayushman Baruah

INDIA IS SET FOR A DIGITAL payment revolution and the overall payments landscape of the country is up for a complete overhaul. The digital payments industry in India are expected to hit $500 billion by 2020, contributing 15 per cent to the country’s GDP, according to the latest ‘Digital Payments 2020’ report by Google and Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The recent move by the Narendra Modi-led government to demonetise high-value currency notes to wipe out black money has only added fuel to the fire by pushing more number of people to use digital modes of payments. The trend that has picked up as an immediate aftermath of the announcement is expected to continue and create a lasting impact.

Within hours of the government’s ban on the existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, mobile payment and commerce platform — Paytm — saw an overwhelming 435 per cent increase in overall traffic. The company has registered a 200 per cent hike in the number of app downloads and 250 per cent surge in the number of overall transactions and transaction value. The number of ‘saved cards’ also grew 30 per cent, pointing at a strong set of repeat customers. The company has recorded a 1000 per cent growth in money added to the wallet and a 400 per cent growth in transaction value of offline payments.

“At Paytm, we are proud to announce that we have been able to help millions of Indians adopting digital payments during the recent cash crunch. It’s heartwarming to see merchants, small or large accepting mobile payments using Paytm…,” said Kiran Vasireddy, senior vice-president, Paytm.