Acknowledging the rising interface of digitisation in banking, NITI Aayog has said that digital payments rose 55 per cent in 2016-17, against a 28 per cent growth during the five-year period ending 2016.
As per the data provided by the think tank, the retail payments segment accounted for as much as 98 per cent-99 per cent of total volumes.
“The retail payments segment accounted for as much as 98 per cent -99 per cent of total volumes,” said Rattan Watal, Principal Advisor to NITI Aayog, while addressing a seminar on ‘Digital Payments Trends, Issues and Challenges’ organised by FICCI in collaboration with NITI Aayog.
In addition to this, the share of cash transaction, which formed over half the total volume in 2011-12, steadily dropped to 16 per cent in 2015 -16 and further to 11 per cent in 2016-17 with a corresponding increase in the combined share of electronic clearing and cards.
Watal was as designated the chairman of the committee set up by the finance ministry to look into the existing digital payments ecosystem and suggest possible changes to higher adoption of e-payments.
“The growth trends in digital payments are positive and will continue to dominate the payments landscape in India,” he said.
“A classification of services under the name of service provider, payment destination, user and value would help citizens track growth better,” Watal added.
“Banks should issue debit cards to their uncarded customers; deploy POS, mPOS, Aadhaar Pay, QR code, Micro ATM; and also disincentivise cash-based transactions,” said AP Hota, Managing Director, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
