DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS IN INDIA

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.