On the off chance that the pandemic rushed the reception of digital payments in 2020, 2021 was the year that digital payments went genuinely mainstream. Online payments dramatically increased in 2021 with a steady growth of 104%. For all intents and purposes, each sector saw development with food and beverages being the top contributing area with 18.08%, as indicated by a survey report.
While the first wave witnessed digital penetration among the first layer of businesses like D2C brands, the second wave drove more traditional offline businesses to instrument digital modes of transaction. According to a study, it is believed that such a transformation of the financial landscape will have profound implications for business, society, and government. Today, India is outpacing the world in digital payments.
So the question is what triggered this boom in India? Well, to be told the truth, cheap internet data along with high smartphone penetration and India’s biometric identity card fuelled the rapid scale-up of online payment systems over mobile platforms.
At present, more than 250+ banks possess live UPI members i.e. they allow interbank fund transfer through UPI. It recently has gained the position of being the single largest retail payment system in the country in terms of volume of the transaction thus fulfilling its objective of replacing cash for low-value transactions.
India is evolving into one of the world’s largest fintech markets and is ranked no. 4 in many fintech unicorns valued at $50 billion. While many factors are contributing to the nations digital successes, it is believed that the role of the Government, regulators and industry bodies in developing the India Stack provided the foundation for rapid digitisation and innovation.