‘Digital payments transactions reach 11,660 crore in current Financial year as on 11.12.2023’

Digital payments have significantly increased in recent years, as a result of coordinated efforts of the Government with all stakeholders. This was stated by Union Minister of State for Finance Dr. Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

The Minister further stated that the total digital payment transactions volume increased from 2,071 crore in FY 2017-18 to 13,462 crore in FY 2022-23 at a CAGR of 45 per cent. During current FY 2023-24, digital payments transactions have reached 11,660 crore till 11.12.2023.

The Minister gave details of the progress made in the number of digital payment transactions during the last six years and current year are as below:

Financial Year	Volume (in crore)
2017-18	2,071
2018-19	3,134
2019-20	4,572
2020-21	5,554
2021-22	8,839
2022-23	13,462
2023-24 (Till 11th Dec)	11,660

Source: Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) & DIGIDHAN Portal

On the question of various digital payment products which span from retail to wholesale payments, that Minister stated that for wholesale payments, there is Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) payment system, and, for retail payments, the payment products are Unified Payments Interface (UPI), National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Credit and Debit cards, Prepaid Payment Instruments, National Automated Clearing House (NACH), Aadhaar enabled Payment Service (AePS) (Fund Transfers), BHIM Aadhaar Pay, and National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) (linked to bank account).

The Minister stated that the Government in coordination with RBI continuously aims to make digital payments user friendly while ensuring payment security. The efforts taken include, inter alia,

1. conversational payments in UPI which enables users to engage in a conversation with an AI- powered system to initiate and complete transactions in a safe and secure environment,
2. offline payments in UPI to increase the speed of small value transactions on UPI,
3. expanding the scope and reach of e-RUPI vouchers,
4. Linking RuPay Credit Cards to UPI, and
5. Interoperable Card-less Cash Withdrawal (ICCW) at ATMs.

Digital payments expansion prompts regulatory steps to boost access and security via conversational and offline UPI innovations. Digital payment systems have experienced sustained compound growth in transaction volume, supported by coordination between the Government, the Reserve Bank and payments infrastructure entities. The expansion covers wholesale RTGS settlement and a range of retail products including UPI, NEFT, IMPS, card payments, prepaid instruments, NACH, AePS, BHIM Aadhaar Pay and NETC. Policy and operational measures target access, convenience and security through conversational UPI, offline UPI, broader e-RUPI use, RuPay credit card linkage to UPI and Interoperable Card-less Cash Withdrawal at ATMs.