A year after demonetization, the number of digital transactions has seen a tremendous increase — by 80.85% — in terms of volume. These digital transactions include National Payments Corporation of India-approved financial transactions such as Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), RuPay, IMPS (immediate payment service), aadhaar enabled payment system (AEPS), among others.
In November 2016, the number of digital transactions stood at 24.13 crore. Demonetization took the total number to 43.64 crore till September 2017, showing an increase of 80.85%. The value of digital transactions increased by 52% to Rs 1,47,624 crore in September 2017 from Rs 96,833 crore in November 2016, according to the data by the ministry of electronics and IT.
The number of transactions through debit cards and credit cards at point-of-sale (PoS) devices jumped 17.07% to 24 crores in September this year from 20.5 crore in November 2016, the data from Reserve Bank of India shows. For the same period, the data in terms of value increased by 35.69% to Rs 47,820 crore in September, 2017 from Rs 35,240 crore in November last year.
According to officials from the ministry of electronics and IT, the ministry is taking proactive measures to promote the growth of digital transactions. “Mobile handset firms have been asked to pre-install BHIM apps in the mobile phones,” a senior official from the ministry told DNA Money.
Over the last two years, Digital India has made significant progress and it’s time to move to the next phase. The pillars of Digital India — broadband, e-governance, Make in India, e-Kranti, information for all, public internet program and others have to be strengthened and scaled up further as the government aims to make India fully digitally literate.
Digital India programme focuses on providing broadband highways, universal access to mobile connectivity, public internet access, e-governance through technology and electronic delivery of services, among others.
