Unified Payments Interface (UPI) topped as the most preferred payment mode in 2020 among consumers with a person-to-merchant (P2M) market share volume of 41%.
The Worldline India report said this was followed by prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) at 26%. Total spends through PPI instruments increased by 65% during the year while mobile wallets recorded negative growth of 8% in volume and 16% in value.
Deepak Chandani, Managing Director, Worldline SouthAsia and Middle East, said new and old payment channels have catered to market needs, ensuring long-term growth not only in terms of on-boarding new merchants and customers in the payment ecosystem, but also increasing the number of digital transactions. “New payment systems like FASTag and Bharat BillPay matured in the previous year while payment gateways continued to be the reliable partners to facilitate end to end payments for consumers and merchants alike.”
It pointed out that cards continue to dominate payments when it comes to value of transaction with debit cards at 40% and credit cards at 28%. RBL Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are the top five merchant acquiring banks to deploy point-of-sale (POS) terminals in 2020. The total number of cards in circulation stood at 94.7 crore as of December 2020. And out of the total cards in circulation, debit cards accounted for 94% while credit cards represented a 6% market share.
The report said transactions processed at physical touch points like grocery stores, fuel stations, clothing and apparel, pharmacies, restaurants and specialty retail together accounted for 80% in volume and 60% in value. Financial services, government institutions and education sector accounted for about 20% in volume and 75% in value in the online space. Gaming, e-commerce and utility services contributed to about 80% in volume and over 20% in value in the online space.
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And as of December 2020, the average ticket size of credit cards was Rs 3,653 and Rs 2,568 of debit cards. The number of POS terminals deployed witnessed an all-time high figure of 57 lakh in December 2020, marking a year-on-year growth of 15%. And the top 10 states with highest transactions at physical touch points in 2020 were Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal and Telangana.
