JOIN US Eradication of black money and fake currency aside, the government’s decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes last week, has given a major push to the adoption of digital payments in India.
In the first two days, digital payment platforms including Paytm, FreeCharge, MobiKwik and RuPay, have witnessed significant surge in downloads as well as transactions. While Paytm witnessed 7X increase in overall traffic, MobiKwik has registered 18X growth in transactions and RuPay has almost doubled the number of transactions on its platform since the announcement.
FreeCharge said that it has witnessed a 10X surge in the sign-up queries it receives from retail merchants. Another digital wallet player, Oxigen has witnessed daily registrations to have increased by 120 times, while download and load value on Oxigen Wallet prepaid visa cards have increased four times. “There is rise in the daily average users too, and it has increased by 167%,” Oxigen said.
About the surge in RuPay usage on PoS and ecommerce, NPCI MD and CEO A P Hota said, “It is heartening to witness a good number of first-time users at PoS terminals. Using the PoS is even simpler than using an ATM. When there are restrictions on withdrawal of cash in the aftermath of demonetisation of notes, usage of payment cards at PoS for all day-to-day purchases is the ideal way to transact.”
Bipin Preet Singh, Co-founder of MobiKwik, said, “We support the government’s bold currency reform that is a long-term move to eliminate black money and corruption in India.”
Govind Rajan, CEO, FreeCharge, said, “Merchant on-boarding with FreeCharge is as easy as creating an account on the FreeCharge app. Aligned with the government’s mission, FreeCharge’s team is committed to accelerate the retail merchant community’s digital payments journey.”
Further, while Moody’s Investors Service on Wednesday cautioned a ‘sharp decline’ in banks’ deposit base in the near future, it added that retail payment systems will be a clear beneficiary of the demonetisation move as people may see these channels being much more convenient, compared to the hassle they may experience in transitioning to the new denomination notes.
“In addition, on the supply side, both banks and new generation players such as e-wallet providers have been very focused on developing this segment. Thus, in an already favourable ecosystem for retail payment systems, this development may act as a further stimulus,” Moody’s said.