88% Growth in Digital Transactions in Last 3 Years Since 2018-19

23 December 2021: As a result of the initiatives taken by the Government, there has been a paradigm shift in digital transactions in India. This was stated by Union Minister of State for Finance Dr. Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad in Rajya Sabha. The Minster stated that the paradigm shift is reflected in terms of the increase in the volume of digital transactions over the last three financial years.

There has been a growth of 88% in volume of digital transactions during the last 3 years since 2018-19, the Minister stated. The digital transaction platform is a pan India platform with a facility of ‘’anytime anywhere’’ banking. Accordingly, the data is captured only at the National level, the Minister added.

Minister further stated that as per the data from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), India’s own payment platform, UPI has emerged as the country’s favourite digital payment choice, with over 22 billion transactions registered during FY 2020-21, showing 4 times growth over the last 3 years. Also, AePS inter-bank transactions during FY 2020-21 registered a 9-fold growth, over the past 4 years.

To promote digital transaction in the country, the Minister stated that RuPay debit cards are issued to Jan-Dhan account holders under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). As on 08.12.2021, 31.17 crore RuPay debit cards have been issued to PMJDY account holders. As digital payment is one of the priorities of the Government to facilitate hassle free and seamless banking transactions in the country, several other initiatives have been taken by Government of India through its various programs/agencies, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and banks, to promote and create awareness about digital payments in rural areas.