Digital payments to merchants in India rise 19 pc in June: Report

NEW DELHI: Digital payments to merchants in India grew nearly 19 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in June to Rs 9,10,000 crore (Rs 9.1 trillion), a new report said on Wednesday.

According to data compiled by Equirus Securities, UPI person-to-merchant (P2M) payments remained the biggest driver, rising 22 per cent YoY to Rs 6.8 trillion, while credit card spends increased 15 per cent YoY to Rs 1.8 trillion.

Debit card spending, however, declined 14 per cent from previous year to Rs 35,300 crore.

UPI-P2M accounted for 74.5 per cent of the total market share in June, while credit cards held 20 per cent.

“Nearly two-thirds of UPI-P2M transactions by value were above Rs 2,000,” according to the report.

The number of active cards in force stayed flat at 11.12 crore during the same time period.

HDFC Bank led with 2.13 lakh new cards, followed by Yes Bank, Federal Bank, SBI Card, and IDFC First Bank.

Year-to-date (YTD), 13.1 lakh cards have been added, as per the report. In terms of market share, HDFC Bank maintained the lead in both cards in force and spending, with 22 per cent and 27.9 per cent shares respectively.

E-commerce continued to dominate credit card spending, accounting for 63.1 per cent of total spends in June.

The average e-commerce spend per card was Rs 10,400 per month, compared to Rs 6,100 at physical point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Parliament was informed that over the last six financial years (FY20 to FY25), India has recorded more than 65,000 crore digital transactions, with a total value exceeding Rs 12,000 lakh crore.

Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on July 28, said the government has been working closely with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), fintech companies, banks, and state governments to boost the adoption of digital payments, including in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.