As people go cashless, ICICI Bank's digital card usage jumps

With Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes getting demonetised, ICICI Bank has witnessed a significant rise in its debit and credit card usage.

Over the last 7 days, the bank saw a 100 per cent jump in usage of debit cards and over 40 per cent in credit cards, including at restaurants, departmental stores and for healthcare services.

Among others, people are also using their cards at lodgings and for buying automobiles and accessories.

"Debit card transactions have grown by 100 per cent over regular volumes over the last 7 days. And credit card transactions have increased by nearly 40 per cent over regular volumes in the same period," ICICI Bank spokesperson told PTI.

ICICI Bank also witnessed point-of-sale and e-commerce transactions hitting over 1 million on November 12 alone, just within four days of the government's announcement to demonetise high-value currency notes coming to effect.

"This is a 70 per cent increase over regular volumes over the last 7 days," said the spokesperson.

Though digital transactions offer an alternative at a time when the country faces an acute crunch with most of the people running out of cash as Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes are no longer legal tender, digital is still not a prevalent practice in India where most of the transactions take place in hard currency.

Banks and ATMs across the country are witnessing long queues of people waiting for hours either to replace their old high-value currencies or to withdraw cash.

However, to deal with long queues of people at banks and check syndication, the government on Tuesday said customers will be marked with indelible ink while coming to exchange money.

Besides, the government is also keeping a close watch on Jan Dhan accounts owing to misuse of accounts by unscrupulous elements.