Mapping India's digital transactions: Cashless, but still card dependent

UPI transactions grew faster than credit or debit card transactions, but growth in average transaction size was still considerably lower than debit and credit card usage

In November 2016, when the government announced demonetisation, one of the objectives was to transition the country to a cashless economy. In the absence of many cashless alternatives, people graduated towards wallets. In December 2016, however, the government launched the unified payments interface (UPI), which linked bank accounts directly with digital transactions.

UPI transactions have since zoomed. In the first year, UPI registered an over 1000 per cent growth, albeit over a small base, and has grown in triple digits since. A Business Standard analysis found that the trend of triple-digit growth has continued. Between January 2022 and January 2021, the