Digital transactions in India have crossed 1 billion mark indicates RBI report; UPI sees biggest growth

According to recent data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), digital transactions in the country have reportedly crossed the 1 billion mark this December after recording nearly 1.06 billion transactions. There was a hike of about 6.5 percent in comparison to November which had 998 million total digital transactions up to that point. [caption id=“attachment_4295813” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Digital Payments. AP[/caption] Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonestisation decision in November 2016 and widespread use of UPI (Unified Payment Interface) and other e-wallet services are strong driving factors of this jump in digital transactions in the past year or so. In fact, according to the Economic Times, the RBI data shows that UPI alone has raised transactions by up to 40 percent month-on-month after it saw nearly 145.5 million transactions in December as compared to 104.8 million done in November. IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) also grew by 10 percent to see nearly 98 million transactions happen as compared to 9.5 million in November said the report. Also, traditional transactions via card grew by about 8 percent month-on-month after debit and credit cards recorded nearly 264 million transactions in December as compared to 244.6 million in November. However, according to the RBI, the highest amount of card transactions has been 311 million transactions and they were carried out in December 2016 post the cash-crunch period. This number is yet to be surpassed. The RBI report says that UPI transactions were only 2 million in December 2016 and by December 2017 that number had risen to 145.5 million. E-wallets like **Paytm** , PhonePe, Google’s Tez and the **BHIM** app announced by Modi have played a big hand in shaping the economy from a cash-strapped one to progressively pushing it towards a digital one.