Mobile payments triple in one year to Rs 111.4 L cr

Chennai: Payments through mobile apps have tripled in a year’s time both in terms of value and volumes.

The number of transactions done through mobile apps was 1.12 billion in April 2020 and in June 2021 it went up to 3.7 billion. Similarly, the value of transactions in April 2020 was Rs 3.6 lakh crore but had gone up to Rs 11.4 lakh crore in June 2021, as per the Worldline India data.

The increased payments are a result of acceptance of Quick Response-based payment solutions. The adoption of asset-light QR-based acceptance solutions has grown swiftly in the past one year. As of September 2021, the number of Bharat QR merchant touch points was 5.2 million and UPI QR, 119.6 million, witnessing an increase of 116 per cent and 98 per cent, respectively, against the same period of the previous year.

Such growth can be attributed to the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme by the RBI that envisages creating about three million merchant touch points every year from January 1, 2021 for three years.

“In India, it is safe to say that a significant number of transactions are being done through the mobile phone, thanks to the advent of UPI and the rollout of millions of QRs at physical merchant locations. E-commerce transactions that are being completed through UPI also have a mobile component to it,” said Sunil Rongala, vice president–strategy, innovation & analytics, Worldline India.

However, India still has a long way to go in terms of mobile payments. In terms of penetration of mobile payment adoption, China dominates at 39.5 per cent, followed by South Korea at 29.9 per cent and Vietnam at 29.1 per cent. India is ranked sixth at 20.2 per cent and the US at 17.7 per cent.

In terms of average annual transaction per user, the US dominates at $7,961 while China is at $2,300 and India is at $80.