Covid-19 crisis: Payments fall 46% in April; ATM cash withdrawal declines

Retail payments fall 45%, card usage slips 57%

April saw total payments, comprising digital payments and payments made through paper-based instruments, plummet 46 per cent in value terms to Rs 84.1 trillion, from Rs 156.5 trillion in March, revealed the monthly bulletin of the Reserve Bank of India.

While the lockdown to contain the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus was initiated in the latter part of March, April bore the full brunt of the lockdown.

In volume terms (transactions), total payments in April plummeted 22 per cent to 2.38 billion, from 3.07 billion in March.

Total digital payments — both in volume and value terms — also