Global non-cash transactions to reach 1.3 trillion in 2023: Report

Global non-cash transaction volumes will see a nearly 16.6 per cent year-on-year growth rate to reach the 1.3 trillion-mark by 2023-end, a new report released by Capgemini Research Institute on Thursday revealed. 

By 2027 this is expected to grow at a 15 per cent rate to hit 2.3 trillion, the report added. As per the regional break up during this period, digital payments will grow by 19.8 per cent across the Asia Pacific, 10.7 per cent in Europe and 6.5 per cent in North America.

Riding on real-time network and open banking, the United Payments Interface (UPI) in India reported growth of 1.9x in volume and nearly 1.8x in transaction value between 2021-2022. Furthermore, UPI transaction value and volume surpassed credit and debit card totals by a significant margin in 2022 as UPI account-to-account payments became the preferred payment instrument for consumers and businesses across the country.

However, despite the strong push in India, only 44 per cent of India payment executives said they were in the final phase or had completed the ISO20022 migration, which is a global and open financial messaging standard created for banks and financial institutions by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The Reserve Bank is working on  a new UPI feature which will enable consumers to block their account funds and complete payments after service delivery. The feature will likely add a fillip to UPI use for e-commerce and replace cash on delivery, the report noted.

Globally, the healthy growth trajectory appears to be supported by aiding developments. As of June 2023, 130 countries representing 98 per cent of global gross domestic product were exploring the option of a central bank digital currency. This illustrates a significant jump from 2020 when merely 35 countries were considering the idea.

Of the global non-cash transactions currently, retail payments comprise 59 per cent of total volume while commercial payments comprise 41 per cent. However, in terms of value, commercial payments make up nearly 56 per cent, while retail accounts for only 44 per cent of total payments value.

In the Asia Pacific  region, the split between commercial and retail payments value share is nearly 50 per cent each.