Digital transactions will increase four times to 8707 Cr by end of 2021: RBI

With a promise to offer people of India e-payment experience that will be exceptionally safe, secure and truly world-class, the Reserve Bank of India has come out with vision document for the next three years.

In the vision road map, the central bank outlined 12 expected outcomes, including reduction in volume of cheque-based payments, growth of UPI, a four-fold increase in digital payments, increase in e-payment GDP, reduction in paper-based transactions, improved pricing, better customer grievance redressal mechanisms and establishment of new payment system operators (PSO), out of 36 specific action points over the 36-month timeframe.

RBI, in the vision document, said to witness accelerated growth in individual retail electronic payment systems, both in terms of a number of transactions and increased availability.

The number of digital transactions is expected to increase more than four times from 2069 crore in December 2018 to 8707 crore in December 2021, said 'Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019 – 2021’ document released by RBI.

In the same period, RBI is expected to see an increase in the share of digital payments to 14.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) by December 2021 as against 8.4% in 2018.  It also indicated that debit cards will play an important role in driving digital payments.

Usage of debit cards at PoS transactions is expected to be at least 44% of total debit card transactions, the vision document added. In value terms, it is expected to be 22% by the end of 2021.

RBI further plans to reduce the demand of the cash through enhancing the availability of card acceptance device infrastructure. It is expected to have 5 mn active PoS.

It also talked about creating an ecosystem for healthy competition in payment space.

The payment systems landscape will continue to change with further innovation and entry of more players which is expected to ensure the optimal cost to the customers and freer access to multiple payment system options, said RBI.

In January this year, expressing concerns of concentration in the retail payments space, the RBI had invited public views on opening up the payment space to encourage innovation and competition.

The current Vision document outlines the road map for the three-year period spanning from 2019 to 2021.