Understanding QR code payments: Here's the lowdown on Bharat QR

There is a huge disconnect in India when it comes to digital payments. The country’s retail system is still run by mom and pop stores, most of which are still tiptoeing around going all-out cashless.

There were 24.5 million credit cards and 661.8 million debit cards being used in the country in March 2016, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). But only 700,000 merchants accept card payments. And there are only 1.4 million card-swiping machines attached to cash registers in the country.

If this gap wasn’t evident before, it certainly became so once the government launched its demonetization