Digital India: India Leads in Digital Payments

The UK-based payment system company ACI recently released a report on digital payments. According to this report, India recorded the most real-time online transactions in 2020.

Highlights of the Report

• India's digital payment market is led by Paytm, PhonePe, BharatPe, Pine Labs etc.
  
  
• UPI (Unified Payment Interface) transactions increased by 7% in March 2021 compared to February 2021. In February 2021, the UPI transaction was Rs 4.25 lakh crore, and in March 2021, it increased to Rs 5.05 lakh crore.
  
  
• India was ahead of China, the USA, South Korea, UK, Thailand in online transactions.
  
  
• According to ACI's report, the share of India's electronic transactions will exceed up to 50% by 2024.

How did COVID-19 accelerate India's Digitization?

• According to India's Reserve Bank, India is now registering around 100 million digital transactions a day. This is five times compared to 2016. Most of these transactions are conducted by UPI.
  
  
• The acceleration of India's digitization during COVID-19 was mostly through JAM. JAM means Jan Dhan Aadhaar Mobile. The JAM was proposed by the Economic Survey 2014–15. It is an initiative to link Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar cards and mobile numbers. JAM played the safety net during the lockdown.
  
  
• During COVID-19, many e-retailers requested payment through digital mechanisms that are contactless and reduce the virus's risk. This was another primary reason for the growth of digital transactions during COVID-19.
  
  
• Because of India's digital development, Google has announced an additional investment of USD 10 billion in India to provide internet access.

Challenges in Digital Transformation in India

• Most central digital services operate in Hindi or English. With India's culture being highly diverse, more services should be launched in local languages. Launching digital services in multiple languages ​​is one of Google's $ 10 billion investment plan's main objectives.
  
  
• Unbelievable performance and poor technical support, poor web or mobile application design are causing a lack of trust and confidence in government digital channels.

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