PPI wallets register 20% drop to 1.14 bn in November, says RBI data

But prepaid payment instrument cards grow on a smaller base

The total number of prepaid payment instrument (PPI) wallets saw a 20.4 per cent year-to-date (YTD) decline, dropping from 1.44 billion in January to 1.14 billion in November, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). On a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis, PPI wallets declined 16.7 per cent from 1.37 billion in November 2023.

 

The top two banking players for wallets — Paytm Payments Bank and Airtel Payments Bank — recorded a decline in the cumulative number of PPI wallets between January and November this year.

 

The fall in numbers came after the banking regulator took action on Paytm Payments Bank in January.

 

Paytm Payments Bank’s PPI wallets declined 42 per cent and those of Airtel Payments Bank dropped 48.5 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis in November. 

 

The decline may have come after companies deactivated dormant accounts that would not be in use for some time, industry experts said.

 

However, non-banking players, including fintechs such as PhonePe, MobiKwik, Ola Financial Services, and Amazon, recorded healthy growth in PPI wallet issuances over the year, data shows.

 

PhonePe had 211.82 million PPI wallets in November 2024, followed by MobiKwik’s 141 million, and Ola Financial Services’ 79.71 million. All these companies have grown their base from 144.3 million, 132.6 million, and 79.7 million in November 2023, respectively.

 

PPI cards have continued to grow this year albeit on a smaller base in comparison to PPI wallets.

 

At the end of November 2024, there were an outstanding 416.35 million PPI cards, which had grown 30.67 per cent from 318.6 million cards during the same time last year. On a YTD basis till November, PPI cards grew 26.9 per cent from 328 million in January.