Key findings of the report:
- India’s push to build a less-cash economy seems to be gathering momentum.
- Total digital transactions in volume terms recorded a growth rate of 58.8 % during 2018-19, on top of a growth of 50.4 % during 2017-18.
- The number of digital transactions is expected to increase more than four times from Rs 2,069 crore in December 2018 to Rs 8,707 crore in December 2021.
- Though the bulk of digital transactions in value terms (82.8 %) are accounted for by RTGS transactions, retail component of digital transactions (excluding RTGS customers and interbank transactions) witnessed a volume growth of 59.3 % during 2018-19.
Recent innovations in payment and settlement system:
- The payment and settlement landscape has witnessed unprecedented waves of innovation.
- Mobile wallets have literally made banking services available ‘on tap’; digital-only banks have done away with the need for brick and mortar presence.
- Biometric authentication has made doing transactions much safer and more convenient than the conventional modes of payment.
- Blockchain may be a potentially disruptive technology but it is automating and decentralising financial transactions.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being employed in financial technology (fintech) industry in the form of automated data analysis, chatbots and robo-advisers.
- Near field communication (NFC) technology and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are other path-breaking innovations that have emerged into the payment and settlement landscape.
