Retail digital payments saw strong growth in FY21 over a year earlier

Data from RBI suggest there was a slowdown in wholesale transaction value, but volume growth withstood the pandemic

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital payments in India, especially retail digital payments. In the past year, retail digital payments have seen huge growth as more people gravitated towards digital modes of transaction owing to fear of contracting the virus and convenience. Data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) suggests, a slowdown in wholesale transaction value, but volume growth withstood the pandemic. Transactions through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC), and the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) registered acceleration over the previous year. Other retail payment platforms such as Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), and National Automated Clearing House (NACH) saw a near doubling of both transaction volume from 12.5 billion to 22.3 billion, and value from Rs 21.3 trillion to Rs 41 trillion between FY2020 and 2021.