Online payment adoption rates vary across states in the country

Mumbai: Even as more Indians take to digital modes of payments during the pandemic, central government data reveals stark differences in the rate of adoption across states. While Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra recorded the highest number of transactions per person, the laggards include Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir as well as the North Eastern states of Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya.Indians averaged about 3.85 digital transactions per person between July 2019 and July this year with Chandigarh leading at 38.4 transactions per person. Delhi averages about 9.3 transactions per person, according to the Digidhan database maintained by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It tracks digital transactions across National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) operated channels.Sharp Rise in Small TownsThese include RuPay cards, BHIM -- the Unified Payments Interface interface of NPCI--and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)-based mobile transfers over a twelve-month cycle.77384121Digital payment industry executives estimate that the grass roots campaigns in states like Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as well as sizable populations in small towns across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have contributed to the surge in digital payments in these areas. They cited a variety of factors ranging from higher income levels to better internet and banking infrastructure as well as reliable power supply as driving factors. “Among the most important is the accessibility to high-speed internet and deployment of devices,” said Harshil Mathur, chief executive officer of payment gateway RazorPay, which works with nearly 1 million merchants across the country. It recorded the most transactions from Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra, in the three months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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