| India 2025 Market Overview | |
|---|---|
| Payment Organisation | NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India), an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to create a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure. The NPCI manages and operates retail payment systems like UPI, IMPS, RuPay, etc., across all banks |
| Domestic Payment Brands | RuPay cards; co-badged Discover, Diners club, and JCB for international use. UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is the mobile A2A payment service in India. |
| Market Structure | Card usage in India quite low compared to other South Asian countries at 4.1 card payments per capita in 2023. The domestic card scheme – RuPay – launched in 2012. Now integrated with UPI, FASTag, NCMC and co-branded with Discover, JCB, and UnionPay Evolving Open Banking payment ecosystem |
| Notable Market Trends | Dominance of UPI in retail transactions, Increase in digital wallets and alternative payment instruments, digital Rupee pilots, Expansion in credit and BNPL. |
| Major Card Issuers | HDFC, SBI Card, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank. |
| Major Card Acquirers | SBI Payment Services, HDFC, Axis Bank. |
| Major Card Processors | PayTM, RazorPay, PayU |
| India Key Statistics 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Population | 1.43 billion, with 0.96 bank cards per capita. |
| Cards | Debit: 960.8 million Credit: 97.9 million Delayed Debit: 0.5 million E-money: 325.1 million Total: 1.38 billion |
| Card Payments | Debit: 2.52 billion; value INR 6.19 trillion ($75.0 billion) Credit: 3.33 billion; value INR 17.34 trillion ($210.0 billion) Total: 5.85 billion; value INR 23.54 trillion ($285.0 billion) |
| POS Terminals | 8,567,404 |
| POS Payments | All cards: 4.26 billion; value: INR 10.46 trillion ($126.7 billion) |
| ATMs | 257,901 |
| ATM Withdrawals | All cards: 6.75 billion; value: INR 32.87 billion ($398.0 billion) |
| Digital A2A Payments | Credit Transfers: 134.0 billion, value: INR 636.9 trillion |
Introduction – Payments in India
India is a sovereign nation in South Asia, governed as a federal parliamentary democratic republic. The country consists of 28 states and 8 union territories. The Indian parliament is bicameral, and the nation has been undergoing significant regulatory reforms aimed at driving financial inclusion and a cashless economy.
With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, India is one of the fastest-growing digital economies in the world, supported by a vibrant technology ecosystem and widespread mobile and internet penetration.
India has witnessed a remarkable transformation in its payments ecosystem over the past decade. Fuelled by the growth of digital infrastructure, initiatives such as Aadhaar (biometric identity), Jan Dhan Yojana (financial inclusion), and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India now leads globally in real-time digital payment volumes, accounting for nearly half (48.5%) of global real-time payments volume, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Based on data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI facilitated over 100 billion (117 billion) transactions in 2023 alone, making it the most widely used payment method in the country.
International studies and domestic assessments indicate India is among the most digital-forward nations when it comes to payments. The proportion of consumers using online and mobile payments has surged significantly, especially after the 2016 demonetization drive which catalyzed digital adoption. By 2023, UPI had become ubiquitous across urban and rural areas, with a strong merchant and user base driven by zero MDR (merchant discount rate) and seamless interoperability across apps and banks.
More recently, India’s mobile wallets such as PhonePe, Paytm, and Google Pay have evolved from simple P2P platforms to comprehensive digital ecosystems offering bill payments, ticketing, financial services, and shopping. PhonePe, for instance, reported over 500 million registered users and accounted for a major share of UPI transactions by the end of 2023. By March 2025, the number of users had risen to more than 600 million. Monthly active users across leading wallets exceeded 300 million, highlighting widespread consumer engagement and trust.
The implementation of regulatory frameworks like the RBI’s Digital Payment Security Controls, tokenization guidelines, and the Account Aggregator (AA) system have accelerated digital transformation. These initiatives ensure secure and efficient digital transactions while laying the groundwork for Open Banking in India. A2A (account-to-account) payments via UPI are now seen as a credible alternative to cards, especially for high-frequency, low-ticket payments.
Indian consumers have increasingly embraced mobile devices and connected technologies in their daily lives. This has redefined commerce, enabling purchases at any time, from any place, and via any device. Consumers now frequently:
- Use mobile phones to scan QR codes and pay at kirana stores (retail groceries stores)
- Compare prices online while shopping in-store
- Access banking and payment services via super apps
- Purchase from social media integrations and influencer-linked storefronts
Digital banking apps like SBI YONO, Kotak 811, and Axis Mobile now combine account management, digital lending, investment options, and embedded UPI payment services into a single platform. Users are increasingly seeking seamless integration of services, unified dashboards, and contextual payment capabilities.
India’s digital payment landscape is shaped by a triad of core payment modes:
- Card-based payments – debit and credit card ecosystem (enabled via RuPay – the domestic card network, Visa, and Mastercard as well as contactless technologies)
- Account-to-account (A2A) payments mostly through UPI as well as via National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Immediate Payment Service (IMPS)
- Mobile wallet and super App ecosystem, integrating payments, shopping, and financial services
The triad works in a synergistic manner as card payments are mostly preferred for large, structured payments, A2A payments are mostly applies to daily transactions, and Wallets are preferred for low-ticket payments especially by unbanked or semi-digital users in rural areas.
With government and private sector collaboration, India’s robust and inclusive digital infrastructure continues to evolve, offering a blueprint for digital payments innovation in emerging markets.
Legal Framework for Payment Services
The legal framework for payment services in India is a coordinated initiative led by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the primary regulator, supported by the Ministry of Finance and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), with the objective of standardizing digital payments, fostering financial inclusion, and building a robust payment ecosystem throughout the country. The payment regulatory approach is nationally unified and regulator-driven, with the RBI as the central authority. It exercises exclusive powers to license, regulate, and supervise all payment system operators, ensuring that standards, security, and innovation are centrally managed under one cohesive framework.
Based on its vision, the RBI has established a comprehensive legal framework for digital payments covering both consumer and business transactions that guides pre-existing payment legislation and is binding for banks, non-banking financial companies, and payment service providers across India. This framework aims to promote innovation, enhance security measures, ensure interoperability between payment systems, and accelerate India’s transition toward a less-cash economy.
The Payment and Settlement Systems Act of 2007, along with subsequent regulations and guidelines, forms the backbone of this regulatory structure, which continues to evolve to address emerging technologies, cybersecurity concerns, and changing market dynamics while supporting India’s growing digital economy.
Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007
The Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act) is the cornerstone legislation that governs the regulation, authorization, and oversight of payment systems in India. Enacted in December 2007 and brought into effect in August 2008, this law provides the statutory basis for the regulation and supervision of payment systems in the country.
The Act designates the RBI as the sole authority for authorizing payment systems and operators, regulating participants and system providers, and overseeing systemic stability and consumer protection in payments. This gives the RBI exclusive jurisdiction to regulate everything from UPI and card networks to mobile wallets and payment aggregators.
Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 & RBI KYC Guidelines
The PMLA mandates payment system participants to comply with KYC norms for onboarding customers and merchants as well as AML/CFT requirements. This Act applies to banks, Non-Bank Financial Companies (NBFCs), payment aggregators, wallet issuers, securities intermediaries, and insurers.
Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), 2023
The DPDPA applies to the processing of digital personal data within India, whether the data is collected online or offline and subsequently digitised. The Act also applies to the processing of personal data outside India if it relates to offering goods or services to individuals within India. However, it excludes personal data made publicly available by the individual or under a legal obligation.
Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999
FEMA governs all foreign exchange transactions in India, including cross-border payments and international remittances. FEMA regulates how payments for international transactions must be made and received as well as specify the currencies and channels that are permissible for such payments.
Banking Sector
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the central bank of India and plays a pivotal role in regulating, supervising, and overseeing the Indian banking and payments system. It operates in coordination with other regulatory bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for capital markets, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) for insurance, and the Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for financial policy and legislative frameworks. The legal and regulatory architecture for financial institutions in India is built on the foundations of several laws, including the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, and various guidelines issued by RBI under its statutory powers.
Structure
Indian banks have traditionally operated under a universal banking model, offering a broad spectrum of financial services including retail banking, corporate lending, investment services, insurance, wealth management, and digital payments. The Indian banking sector has historically been dominated by large public sector banks (PSBs) such as the State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda, and Canara Bank, alongside leading private sector banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
The banking landscape has undergone significant consolidation and liberalisation over the past two decades. Prior to 2020, India had 27 PSBs, many of which had weak capital adequacy, were burdened with non-performing assets, and were smaller compared with private and foreign banks. A major government-led transformation began with the mergers of PSBs, notably the 2020 consolidation where 10 public sector banks were merged into 4, and the total number of PSBs was reduced to 12. This move was aimed at enhancing scale, improving asset quality, and strengthening capital adequacy. The State Bank of India (SBI) remains the largest bank in the country by assets, with a diversified portfolio across retail, corporate, and digital segments.
According to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Department of Financial Services, as of 2024, India had nearly 140 scheduled commercial banks, which included:
- 12 Public Sector Banks (PSBs)
- 21 Private Sector Banks
- 43 Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)
- 44 Foreign banks operating through branches
- 11 Small Finance Banks (SFBs) and
- 6 Payments Banks
India’s four largest banks by assets — State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Punjab National Bank — together accounted for approximately 58% of total banking sector assets in 2023, reflecting a high degree of concentration in the upper tier of the market.
State Bank of India (SBI), the largest public sector bank, remains the single most dominant institution, with a wide national presence, significant market share across both retail and corporate banking, and substantial digital footprint through YONO and UPI services.
HDFC Bank — now merged with HDFC Ltd (as of July 2023) — emerged as the largest private sector bank by assets and market capitalization, with strong strengths in retail lending, cards, and digital banking. HDFC, along with ICICI Bank and Axis Bank, makes up a competitive private banking trio that rivals the public sector in urban and semi-urban markets.
Despite a long tail of mid-sized and small banks, including Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Small Finance Banks (SFBs), and cooperative banks, the asset concentration at the top tier has grown post the 2020 PSB consolidation.
As of 2023, SBI alone accounted for over 27.7% of total commercial banking system assets, underlining its role as a systemic institution in India’s financial landscape. The continued dominance of these top-tier banks reflects not only their balance sheet strength but also their investments in technology, distribution, and financial inclusion.
| 1 - Leading India Banks in 2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank | Ownership | Total Assets ($bn) | Market share |
| State Bank of India (SBI) | Government of India: 56.92%, Life Insurance Corporation of India: 8.83%, Others: 34.25% | 815.2 | 27.7% |
| HDFC Bank | JP Morgan: 13.53%, SBI NIFTY 50 ETF: 5.80%, Others: 80.67% | 487.9 | 16.6% |
| ICICI Bank | Deutsche Bank Trust Company: 19.58%, SBI mutual fund: 5.74%, Life Insurance Corporation of India: 5.64%, Others: 69.04% | 226.6 | 7.7% |
| Punjab National Bank (PNB) | Government of India: 73.15%, Others: 26.85% | 189.1 | 6.4% |
| Bank of Baroda (BoB) | Government of India: 63.97%, Others: 36.03% | 176.6 | 6.0% |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank | Life Insurance Corporation of India: 6.46%, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board: 2.68%, SBI Mutual Fund: 3.7%, Others: 87.16% | 92.9 | 3.2% |
| Axis Bank | Life Insurance Corporation of India: 8.18%, ICICI Prudential AMC: 5.33%, SBI Mutual Fund: 5.0%, Others: 81.49% | 178.8 | 6.1% |
| Canara Bank | Government of India: 62.93%, Others: 37.07% | 167.2 | 5.7% |
| Union Bank of India | Government of India: 74.76%, Others: 25.24% | 168.5 | 5.7% |
| IndusInd Bank | IndusInd International Holdings Limited: 11.5%, The Bank of New York Mellon: 7.92%, Others: 80.58% | 62.3 | 2.1% |
| Leading banks total | 2,565.2 | 87.1% | |
| other banks | 378.9 | 12.9% | |
| Total assets | 2,944.1 | 100.0% | |
| Source: Reserve Bank of India, Bank's Annual Reports, Yearbook research. | |||
State Bank of India (SBI) has, in recent decades, followed a strategy of international expansion, primarily targeting regions with a significant Indian diaspora and high trade linkages with India. As of the end of 2023, SBI had an international presence across 29 countries, operating through a network of over 240 offices, including foreign branches, subsidiaries, and representative offices.
One of its most prominent global acquisitions was the takeover of the Indian operations of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in 2010, following RBS’s global retreat from non-core geographies. This transaction enhanced SBI’s customer base and branch footprint in several Indian cities and also strengthened its corporate banking portfolio. As of 2023, SBI operated a domestic network of over 22,700 branches and nearly 65,000 ATMs, serving more than 480 million customers, including through its digital platform YONO, which had over 74 million registered users.
HDFC Bank – India’s largest private sector lender by market capitalization, has pursued a strategy of domestic scale, vertical integration, and digital leadership rather than international acquisitions. The most recent being its merger with HDFC ltd – The bank’s growth has been driven by a robust expansion of its branch network and digital capabilities. As of 2023, the bank served more than 93 million customers via more than 8,700 branches, adding about 1 million new customers every month.
ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) Bank – Originally established in 1955 as a financial institution to promote industrial development in India, ICICI transformed into a full-fledged commercial bank in the late 1990s. The bank served its customers through nearly 7,000 branches and more than 17,000 ATMs in India as of 2024. ICICI is the third largest bank by total assets in India, holding about 7.7% market share in the banking sector.
Punjab National Bank (PNB) – The second-largest public sector bank in India with a network of more than 10,000 branches and 12,000+ ATMs. PNB serves more than 180 million customers as of 2024 and has overseas presence in Dubai, Hong Kong, and representative offices in Myanmar, UK, among others.
Digital Banking
All major Indian banks — both public and private sector — now offer fully integrated digital banking services, including mobile banking apps, internet banking portals, and UPI-linked payment interfaces. Services typically include real-time balance checks, fund transfers, bill payments, investment tracking, loan applications, and card management. With the increasing adoption of smartphones and affordable mobile data, digital banking has become the primary channel for banking transactions in India.
As of 2023, nearly 90% of Indian bank customers have access to digital banking platforms, with mobile apps being the dominant mode of interaction. According to industry estimates, more than 600 million Indians use mobile or internet banking regularly, making India one of the largest digital banking markets globally. The rollout of Aadhaar-enabled authentication, UPI integration, and RBI-mandated security controls has accelerated both consumer adoption and financial access.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) – India’s groundbreaking instant payment system, developed to transform the country’s digital payments landscape. UPI was officially launched in April 2016 by NPCI with the support of RBI and major Indian banks in response to the need for a unified and accessible payment system in India. UPI allows users to instantly transfer funds between bank accounts using a simple identifier (UPI ID), integrating multiple bank accounts into a single mobile app and supporting both peer-to-peer and merchant payments.
Over the years, India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has achieved record-breaking growth, firmly establishing itself as the backbone of the country’s digital payments ecosystem. UPI processed around 117.6 billion transactions in 2023, a 59% increase from 74 billion in 2022-while total transaction value surged by 45% to ₹182.8 lakh crore (approximately $2.2 trillion). According to recent statistics from RBI, in 2024, the number of transactions processed via the UPI surged 46% to 172 billion transactions while total transaction value surged by 35% to ₹247 lakh crore (approximately $3 trillion).
Digital Banking Initiatives of Commercial banks
State Bank of India (SBI) – YONO (You Only Need One) is SBI’s flagship platform, and it reported 74 million users in 2024 with 13 million average daily logins. In 2024, 524,000 customers were newly onboarded to the bank’s digital channels with 207,000 overseas customers were onboarded through YONO. The bank also reported that 26.8% of transactions were made through mobile banking in 2024. In internet banking, the bank boasts a total of 124.6 million retail users as of 2024.
HDFC Bank – Post its merger with HDFC Ltd, the bank is investing heavily in building a digital ecosystem called Digital 2.0, focusing on cloud-native infrastructure and omnichannel experiences. In 2024, 99% and 69% of personal and business loans respectively were sold digitally and 85% of credit cards were sold digital channels. The share of digital transactions in total transactions reached 97% from 95% in 2023. Building upon the success of its impactful launch in 2023, PayZapp 2.0 – continued its growth in 2024 to become one of the fastest growing payments apps providing customers with a seamless and intuitive user experience, ensuring enhanced security features. The App reached a milestone of 7.5 million registrations in 2024 with 65% monthly active users. It became the first App to be enabled with RuPay Credit Cards for UPI payments in 2024. The bank’s HDFC Bank One Platform (its Customer Experience Hub) supported more than 50% of customers in 2024, reaching 32 million customers, and recorded a 35% growth in customer engagements and reduced the resolution time for email channels by 50%.
ICICI Bank – ICICI Bank has adopted a platform-first strategy, transforming iMobile Pay app (its mobile banking application) into an open ecosystem that allows non-ICICI customers to use core UPI, bill pay, and card services and by 2024, the App recorded over 11 million activations from non-ICICI account holders. By fiscal year 2024, the App had more than 30 million users and the total value of transactions done through this app stood at close to ₹11 trillion. In the same year, digital channels accounted for over 90% of financial and non-financial transactions.
Punjab National Bank (PNB) – PNB has been expanding its PNB ONE app, which now supports UPI, account aggregation, credit card management, and personalized dashboards for savings, loans, and fixed deposits. PNB’s share of digital transactions increased to 88% in 2024 from 85% in 2023 as the number of digital transactions increased by 61.5% to 6.59 billion. The bank has seen increase in internet banking users, reaching 43.1 million in 2024.
Top Neobanks in India
A number of digital challenger banks-commonly known as neobanks-have emerged in India, such as Jupiter, Fi Money, Freo, and Niyo. These neobanks have adopted advanced open banking strategies, leveraging APIs and digital platforms to deliver seamless, customer-centric financial services. Operating in partnership with established licensed banks, Indian neobanks focus on providing innovative products like instant digital accounts, spend analytics, and integrated payment solutions, all within a fully digital experience.
Freo – India’s first credit-led neobank focusing on millennials and young professionals and offering a suite of smart financial solutions, including digital savings accounts (Freo Save), flexible credit lines (MoneyTap), credit and EMI cards (Freo Card), and a buy-now-pay-later facility (Freo Pay). Freo is known for its user-friendly digital platform, strong security, and partnerships with major financial brands. The bank also provides fixed deposits and digital gold investments, catering to a wide range of personal finance needs. Public information put the number of its users at 25 million as of end of 2024 with 60% of them as returning users.
Fi Money – backed by Federal Bank, is designed for tech-savvy users seeking a seamless digital banking experience. It offers zero-balance savings accounts, competitive interest rates, and intuitive money management tools. Fi Money emphasizes personal finance tracking, goal-based saving, and smart insights, making it a popular choice among urban professionals and digital natives. Fi Money currently has about 2.5 million users.
Jupiter – a digital-only neobank that partners with Federal Bank. Jupiter offers a fully digital savings account with UPI, rewards-based spends, investment products, and daily expense tracking. Its user experience emphasizes transparency, budgeting tools, and gamification. Jupiter also launched “Bullet”, a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) credit offering. As of 2024, Jupiter boasts 8 million users and over $2 billion in transactions.
Niyo – one of India’s most prominent consumer-focused neobanks, offering digital savings accounts, global travel cards, and investment tools through strategic partnerships with regulated banks. Niyo partners with regulated banks to offer a broad suite of financial products and services through its mobile-first platform. Niyo provides a fully digital onboarding process, round-the-clock mobile app access, and UPI payments and QR scan options. Niyo claims to have onboarded 6 million customers users as of 2024.
Payment Services
In India, the major digital payment services can be grouped into several principal categories including:
- Card-based payments
- Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) and E-money
- Account-based payment services
- Account-to-Account (A2A) Payment Services, primarily powered by UPI
- Digital Scheme Wallets and Embedded Payments
Card Processors and PSPs
In India, the payments processing ecosystem is both vast and rapidly evolving, driven by a mix of domestic innovation, government-backed infrastructure, digital adoption, and global investment. The ecosystem includes card processors, ATM/POS network processors, electronic/mobile payment service providers (PSPs), and specialized processors supporting functions such as tokenization, card management systems (CMS), and real-time fraud detection.
Issuer and Acquirer Processing
India’s issuer processing services encompass full lifecycle cardholder management — from card issuance (including physical, virtual, and tokenized cards) to transaction processing, rewards management, and fraud prevention. These services cover debit, credit, prepaid, and RuPay cards, and support multi-channel usage across POS terminals, e-commerce, mobile apps, UPI-linked services, and increasingly, contactless NFC environments.
Acquirer processing services in India are delivered by a combination of banks – SBI, HDFC, Axis – and third-party processors. These services range from technical acquiring (POS terminal management, transaction routing, settlement) to merchant acquiring-as-a-service, including onboarding, risk underwriting, and reporting. Acquirer processors also provide value-added services such as analytics, fraud prevention, and integration with loyalty programs. UPI (Unified Payments Interface) has become a major payment rail and is processed alongside card payments by most acquirers.
Leading Card Processors
PayTM – As the pioneer of mobile payments and QR technology and India’s largest payments platform, Paytm has established itself as a leader in India’s rapidly expanding digital payments space and has become the go-to payment platform for millions of Indians. As of 2024, more than 20 million merchants & businesses are powered by Paytm to accept payments digitally. Similarly, more than 300 million Indians use Paytm to pay at their stores. Paytm App is also used to pay bills, do recharges, send money to friends & family, book movies & travel tickets. Paytm also allows advertising via ads and gift vouchers and merchants can even enable subscription-based payments via Paytm.
RazorPay – A leading Indian fintech company specializing in providing a comprehensive suite of digital payments and business banking solutions for merchants and enterprises. Razorpay provides an end-to-end payments platform, enabling businesses to accept, process, and disburse payments via multiple channels-including credit and debit cards, net banking, UPI, and digital wallets. Asides from its payment gateway, the company also offers offline payments and POS solutions, storefront and e-commerce tools, and device-based biometric verification for fast and secure transactions. RazorPay has expanded to serve over 10 million businesses, including prominent companies like Swiggy, Ola, and BookMyShow.
PayU – A subsidiary of the Netherlands-based Prosus Group (formerly Naspers), PayU has established itself as a top-tier payment gateway and fintech player in India since its entry into the market in 2011. PayU provides a comprehensive suite of payment gateway solutions with more than 100 payment methods to over 450,000 merchants in India, supporting more than 100 payment methods including cards, net banking, UPI, and wallets options. Its platform is widely used by leading e-commerce companies, airlines, and businesses across sectors for secure and seamless online transactions. In May 2025, PayU received final RBI approval to operate as online payment aggregator.
Card Brands and Card Types
Indian banks issue a wide array of debit cards, credit cards, and prepaid cards, supporting both domestic and international usage. The principal card networks in India are Rupay (India’s domestic card scheme), Visa, Mastercard, and to a smaller extent, American Express. Diners Club is also issued selectively via HDFC Bank.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) developed and manages RuPay, India’s domestic card network launched in 2012. RuPay has gained widespread acceptance and is the default card scheme for accounts opened under the government’s Jan Dhan Yojana – India’s National Mission for Financial Inclusion. RuPay was designed to break the dominance of international card networks like Visa and Mastercard, while offering affordable, interoperable, and secure payment solutions in India and keeping transaction costs within India.
- Debit Cards – RuPay Debit, Visa Debit, Mastercard Debit
- Credit Cards – RuPay Credit, Visa Credit, Mastercard Credit, AMEX, Diners Club, JCB
- Prepaid Cards – either open-loop (Visa/Mastercard/Rupay) or closed-loop (merchant-specific). NPCI’s National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) is one such prepaid contactless card used for metro, buses, and parking payments.
- Co-Branded Cards – cards issued in partnership with airlines, retailers, hotel chains, oil companies, and service providers. They offer cashback, loyalty points, and exclusive deals. Some examples include Amazon Pay ICICI credit card, Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Credit Card, and IndianOil Axis Bank Credit Card.
Card Usage Trends
- India had nearly 1 billion debit cards and 98 million credit cards in circulation as of end-2023, according to RBI data.
- Card usage for e-commerce, subscription payments, and POS retail purchases continues to grow, though UPI dominates P2P and low-value merchant payments.
- RuPay Credit Card on UPI, launched in 2022, allows credit-based UPI payments, expanding credit accessibility for small-ticket retail use.
- Dominance of e-commerce in credit card transactions
Advanced Payment Services
In the Yearbooks, advanced payment services are classified as online wallets, e-wallets, and/or mobile wallets with any type of payment service chosen by the wallet user to complete the payment.
PayPal – PayPal is available in India, primarily facilitating international payments. As of end-2023, PayPal reported more than 431 million active customer accounts globally, down 0.91% from 435 million in 2022. During 2022, PayPal added approximately 8.6 million net new active accounts, ending the year with 435 million active consumer and merchant accounts. PayPal’s total payment volume increased to $1.52 trillion in 2023 (up 11.7% from $1.36 trillion in 2022) and customer engagement grew to an average of 58 transactions per active account, driving 13% growth in transactions per active account at the end of 2023.
In May 2022, PayPal Ventures invested in Modulr, an embedded payments platform for digital businesses, as part of a $108 million Series C funding round led by General Atlantic, Blenheim Chalcot, Frog Capital, and Highland Europe. Modulr delivers payments infrastructure for over 200 top-tier customers, including Revolut, Wagestream, Sage and BrightPay, and processes an annualised transaction value of more than £100 billion.
In 2023, PayPal is exploring the sale of Xoom, its international money transfer subsidiary, in a bid to cut costs and focus on high-growth business areas. Also, Stax Payments – an all-in-one payment provider for businesses – announced its partnership with PayPal in July 2023. This partnership will allow PayPal’s users to easily make payments with more than 20,000 merchants of Stax through a fast checkout process as well as new payment options such as Buy-now-pay-later solutions.
In 2023, PayPal launched its own US Dollar denominated stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), which is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US treasuries, and similar cash equivalents and designed for digital payments and Web3. Eligible US PayPal customers who purchase PayPal USD will be able to transfer the token to external wallets, send person-to-person payments, fund purchases at checkouts supported by PayPal, and convert cryptocurrency holdings to and from PayPal USD.
In January 2024, PayPal launched AI-powered features to drive personalised offerings for both merchants and customers based on the data it possesses. These features include Smart Receipts (for merchants) which predicts what shoppers may want to buy next from the merchant. The merchant can then offer personalised recommendations, and cashback offers on this receipt. A major feature for users is CashPass which will use give users personalized cashback offers based on an AI analysis of their spending activity.
In March 2024, PayPal launched a complete suite of payment processing tools for online small businesses in the UK, Canada, and across more than 20 European markets. The PayPal Complete Payments package enables small businesses to accept an expanded range of payment instruments including PayPal, buy now pay later, Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods from around the world. By April 2024, PayPal added new features to its complete payments solution for small businesses to enable small businesses to accept a range of payments including PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later products. PayPal also gave small businesses access to four new features to help them drive payment acceptance and enhance how they run their business, and this will include Apple Pay as a checkout option.
Amazon Pay – In 2016, Amazon (US) launched its checkout payment service, Amazon Pay, enabling customers to pay for goods and services in participating third-party merchant websites. All active Amazon account holders can use Amazon login and password at the checkout. More than 50 million customers have used Amazon Pay to make purchases globally, with more than half of these coming from Amazon Prime Members.
Digital Payment Services
In the Yearbooks, digital payment services are classified as card-based payment services using EMV tokenisation security on the internet combined with HCE NFC technology in the case of contactless payments at POS terminals.
As of 2024, the Click to Pay online payment checkout service is available in India for online shoppers using Visa and Mastercard cards, supported by a number of Indian banks. Click to Pay replaced the previous MasterPass and VISA Checkout services respectively. Click to Pay is a joint service between Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express, enabling consumers to make secure one-click payments without having to enter card details or passwords online.
Most Indian banks issue NFC-enabled credit and debit cards. Customers can tap to pay at contactless POS terminals across most urban and semi-urban merchants. Based on RBI guidelines, the contactless payment limit without PIN is typically ₹5,000 per transaction to balance convenience with security.
Apple Pay has become one of the world’s most used digital payment methods. Its user base increased from 521.4 million to 535.8 million in 2022. By 2024, the total number of Apple Pay users was estimated at 640 million and is projected to exceed 700 million by 2027.
According to Apple’s Q2 last 2022, they saw a record of transactions with more than 1.8 billion processed during the quarter, up 40% year-over-year. This payment method is also available in over 90% of the US and 60% of stores globally.
Apple Pay is the #1 most popular digital wallet with a 92% market share, processing a global total of $6 trillion in payments in 2022 and produced a revenue of $1.9 billion.
As of 2023, Apple Pay processed 14.2% of all online consumer payments and 3.5% of all in-store purchases.
Around 51% of global iPhone users have enabled Apple Pay in 2022. There are 10 million Apple Pay-friendly contactless payment terminals worldwide.
The transactions made using Apple Pay are mostly in-store purchases, online transactions, and peer-to-peer payments. It is trendy for contactless payments, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2024, an estimated 60.2 million Apple Pay users in the United States; projections indicate that over 75 million consumers will use Apple Pay by 2030. Putting it all together, Apple Pay is increasingly becoming an effective customer acquisition and retention feature for Apple. In June 2022, Apple Pay added Apple Pay Later, its buy-now-pay-later service, allowing users to split purchases into four equal instalments with no interest or fees. Initially launched in the US, the service is expected to roll out to other countries during 2023. In 2023, Apple launched its Card savings account from Goldman Sachs with a 4.15% annual percentage yield. Apple Wallet users can set up and manage a savings account directly from Apple Card in Wallet, with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements.
As of 2024, Apple Pay has not officially launched in India. Hence, Indian-issued cards cannot be added to Apple wallet.
Google Pay has 150 million active users across 42 global markets.
In January 2022, it was reported that the company was planning to transform Google Pay into a “comprehensive digital wallet”, following the app’s reported slow growth and the shutdown of Plex. In April, it was reported that Google was planning to revive the “Google Wallet” branding in a new app or interface and integrated with Google Pay. Google officially announced Google Wallet on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. The app began rolling out on Android smartphones on July 18, replacing the 2018 app and co-existing with the 2020 Google Pay app in the US. While the app name itself was changed from Google Pay to Google Wallet, the service name of actually paying for things online or in-store remains “Google Pay.”.
In the US, Google Pay has over 25.2 million users. Also, Google Pay is used on nearly 800,000 websites as a secure payment gateway. Roughly 20% of all mobile purchases are made using this digital payment processor.
In 2017, Google Pay launched in India as ‘Tez App’ built on UPI and later as GPay. Google Pay in India operates differently from its global versions in that it is deeply integrated with UPI and offers no card tokenisation or NFC tap-to-pay for most users. As of 2024, Google Pay was supported by 13 banks and payment service providers in India.
Samsung Pay is available in 29 countries worldwide and has an estimated 140 million users. Samsung Pay works with Galaxy phones, including the latest Galaxy S22. Samsung claims that its system will work with almost all point-of-sale systems: NFC, magnetic stripe and EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) terminals for chip-based cards. In June 2022, Samsung Pay announced the launch of Samsung Wallet, enabling users to organise payment, loyalty, and gift cards into one app.
Samsung Pay was launched in India in 2017 and is supported by major banks and payment service providers.
Overview of Cashless Payments
Credit transfers are the dominant payment instrument in India, accounting for 89.27% of all cashless payments by number. This is fuelled by the launch of UPI which revolutionise credit transfers.
Payments cards rank a distant second place (9.11%) in cashless payments. Card payments are predominantly used for point-of-sale (POS) purchases and e-commerce transactions. While their share in total digital payments has declined due to the explosive growth of UPI, debit and credit cards continue to play a critical role, especially in formal retail, online shopping, and high-ticket transactions.
Direct Debits (1.17%) and Cheques (0.45%) have declined significantly since the pandemic from 2.53% and 3.28% respectively in 2019. This is due to the rapid adoption of digital and real-time payments as well as a shift to mobile and digital banking. In India, cheques are primarily used for business and high-value payments, though their overall usage has significantly declined with the rise of digital payment systems. While cheques remain a legally accepted mode of payment, they are increasingly reserved for formal or legacy transactions such as property purchases, dividends, loan disbursements, and institutional payments.
In India, direct debit arrangements are commonly used for recurring payments, such as loan EMIs, insurance premiums, utility bills, subscription services, and investment-related deductions. These payments are primarily facilitated through two systems: the National Automated Clearing House (NACH) and, more recently, UPI AutoPay.
In 2023, there were 104.4 cashless payments per capita, composed of 93.2 credit transfers payments and 9.5 card payments.
| 2 - Cashless Payment Transactions in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (millions) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y |
| Payment cards | 10,832.8 | 12,274.6 | 10,942.3 | 12,473.7 | 13,854.2 | 13,677.2 | 14,330.0 | -1.28% | 26.26% | 4.77% |
| Cheques issued | 1123.8 | 1070.0 | 708.4 | 721.7 | 722.1 | 672.8 | 607.1 | -6.84% | -40.13% | -9.75% |
| Credit transfers | 11,854.3 | 18,486.5 | 27,969.0 | 49,826.8 | 88,102.5 | 134,012.3 | 217,670.0 | 52.11% | 1030.50% | 62.43% |
| Direct debits | 534.4 | 826.5 | 1,008.4 | 1,173.3 | 1,450.5 | 1,752.9 | 2,223.0 | 20.85% | 228.04% | 26.82% |
| Total | 24,351.5 | 32,657.6 | 40,628.1 | 64,195.5 | 104,129.3 | 150,115.1 | 234,830.2 | 44.16% | 516.45% | 43.87% |
| Total card payments per capita | 7.9 | 8.8 | 7.8 | 8.8 | 9.7 | 9.5 | 10.0 | -2.15% | 20.69% | 3.83% |
| Total cheques issued per capita | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | -7.66% | -42.77% | -10.56% |
| Total credit transfers per capita | 8.6 | 13.3 | 19.9 | 35.2 | 61.8 | 93.2 | 151.4 | 50.77% | 980.65% | 60.97% |
| Total direct debits per capita | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 19.79% | 213.57% | 25.68% |
| Total cashless payments per capita | 17.7 | 23.5 | 29.0 | 45.4 | 73.1 | 104.4 | 163.3 | 42.89% | 489.27% | 42.58% |
| Source: BIS. | ||||||||||
Exchange Rates
The Indian Rupees (INR) is the domestic currency in India. The INR depreciated against the USD from INR 70.40/$ in 2019 to INR 82.60/$ in 2023.
| 3 - Average Exchange Rates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| 1 EUR in INR | 80.73 | 78.84 | 84.64 | 87.44 | 82.69 | 89.30 |
| 1 USD in INR | 68.40 | 70.40 | 74.10 | 73.90 | 78.60 | 82.60 |
| Source: ECB, BIS. | ||||||
RuPay – India’s Domestic Card Payment Scheme
RuPay, India’s first domestic card payment network, was launched in 2012 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) under the vision of building a cost-effective, inclusive, and sovereign card scheme for the Indian market. Since its inception, RuPay has emerged as a mass-scale retail payment instrument, deeply integrated across banking, e-commerce, transit, and government benefit schemes.
As of 2024, RuPay has issued over 76 crore (760 million+) cards across debit, credit, and prepaid categories, covering both urban and rural populations. It is now accepted at millions of POS terminals, ATMs, and e-commerce merchants both domestically and internationally through co-badging arrangements.
RuPay cards are issued by nearly all public sector, private sector, cooperative, and regional rural banks (RRBs) in India. A significant number of these cards are linked to Jan Dhan Yojana accounts, making RuPay the card of choice for financially underserved segments. RuPay cards are accepted at all domestic ATMs and POS terminals, more than 5 million merchant outlets, and major e-commerce platforms and government portals.
For international usage, RuPay cards are co-badged with Discover Financial Services, JCB, and UnionPay networks. From 2016 onwards, all new RuPay cards are issued with contactless (NFC) capability, using EMV and tokenization standards for enhanced security. RuPay Contactless (formerly RuPay qSPARC) is enabled for offline transit, retail tap-to-pay transactions, Government IDs linked to payment features (e.g., NCMC). RuPay cards are also integrated into mobile NFC wallets and wearables and can be tokenized on UPI-based mobile apps such as Google Pay, PhonePe, and BHIM.
In August 2023, RuPay credit cards were fully integrated with UPI, allowing users to link their RuPay credit card to UPI apps for merchant QR code payments, a global first in card-UPI convergence.
Card Issuers – Overview
Indian banks issue a full spectrum of credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, and increasingly, co-branded and virtual cards to meet the diverse needs of personal and business banking segments. The domestic card landscape serves individuals, SMEs, corporates, and increasingly, digital-first and underserved customers, supported by both banking institutions and non-bank financial companies (NBFCs).
The card portfolio includes dedicated offerings for specific customer segments: mass-market retail customers, millennials and Gen Z, students and first-time cardholders, affluent and high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), small business, freelancers, and MSMEs clients, and corporate clients. The credit card tiers commonly offered include Classic, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Signature, and Infinite cards, as well as metal cards and premium invite-only cards. Many issuers also provide lifestyle-linked co-branded cards across categories such as travel, fuel, e-commerce, entertainment, and dining.
According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and industry data, most major commercial banks in India issue cards under at least one of: RuPay (domestic), Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Diners Club.
Leading issuers are HDFC, SBI Bank through SBI Card, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Canara Bank. Table 4 illustrates the card brands accepted by the leading issuers in India as of 2024.
Outlook – By mid-2024, card issuers in India face the following notable challenges:
- Intense competition from UPI & alternative payments
- Disruption from Fintechs & Neo-banks – BNPL, prepaid cards, co-branded digital products
- Shifting consumer expectations to more personalised, seamless, and digital-first experiences
- Low awareness and financial literacy gaps in credit card usage
- Implementation of 3D-Secure 2.3; launch of digital wallets, in-app payments, in-store payments
- Strong Customer Authentication (RTS SCA), risk-based authentication (RBA), biometric authentication
| 4 - Leading Card Issuers in India | ||
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Issuers | Issued Card Brands | Owned by |
| HDFC | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay, Diners | JP Morgan: 13.53%, SBI NIFTY 50 ETF: 5.80%, Others: 80.67% |
| SBI Card/SBI Bank | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay, Amex | State Bank of India: 68.63%, Others: 31.37% |
| ICICI Bank | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay, Amex | Deutsche Bank Trust Company: 19.58%, SBI mutual fund: 5.74%, Life Insurance Corporation of India: 5.64%, Others: 69.04% |
| Axis Bank | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | Life Insurance Corporation of India: 8.18%, ICICI Prudential AMC: 5.33%, SBI Mutual Fund: 5.0%, Others: 81.49% |
| Canara Bank | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | Government of India: 62.93%, Others: 37.07% |
| Source: Nilson report, PCM research | ||
Acquiring and Acceptance in India
In India, most acquirers offer multi-channel payment acceptance across POS terminals, MPOS devices, QR-code-based acceptance, and online checkout platforms. The acquiring market is highly competitive and features both bank-led acquirers and a growing number of non-bank Payment Aggregators (PAs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) that specialize in merchant services across physical and digital channels.
The leading acquiring institutions in India include SBI Payment Services, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and non-bank fintech players such as Pine Labs, Razorpay, Paytm, PhonePe, and BharatPe.
These players enable merchants to accept a broad range of payment instruments such as:
- Card payments (Visa, Mastercard, RuPay, Amex)
- UPI-based transactions
- QR-based payments
- Mobile wallets (Paytm, PhonePe, Amazon Pay)
- EMI and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) options
- Netbanking and prepaid products
Innovative acquirers have also expanded into card-less account-based payment acceptance, driven largely by UPI and Aadhaar-enabled Payment Systems (AePS). UPI, in particular, has redefined in-store and online acceptance, with merchants able to accept instant credit transfers via static/dynamic QR codes without needing card infrastructure.
Most bank-led acquirers operate their own ATM and POS networks, while fintech acquirers typically leverage cloud-based infrastructure and third-party processors for transaction routing, reconciliation, and merchant onboarding.
Table 5 illustrates the card brands accepted by the leading domestic acquirers as of 2024.
| 5 - Leading Acquirers in India | ||
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Acquirers | Acceptance Brands offered | Owned by |
| SBI Payment Services | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | State Bank of India: 68.63%, Others: 31.37% |
| HDFC | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | JP Morgan: 13.53%, SBI NIFTY 50 ETF: 5.80%, Others: 80.67% |
| Axis Bank | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | Life Insurance Corporation of India: 8.18%, ICICI Prudential AMC: 5.33%, SBI Mutual Fund: 5.0%, Others: 81.49% |
| ICICI Merchant Services | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | Fiserv Inc |
| Source: Nilson report, PCM research | ||
Outlook – By mid-2024, acquirers in India face the following notable challenges:
- Low Penetration in Rural and Small Merchant Segments
- RBI mandates on card tokenization, card-on-file restrictions, and PCI-DSS compliance increase the complexity and cost of acquiring operations
- Plateauing growth in card transactions
- Continuous integration with emerging payment models – e-commerce, in-app payments, SoftPOS, and BNPL
ATM Terminal Infrastructure
In India, ATMs are primarily owned and operated by banks, but the management model has evolved to include both in-house operations and White Label ATM Operators (WLAOs) licensed by the RBI. While many leading banks such as State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank manage their ATM networks directly, a significant portion of ATM deployment, maintenance, and cash management is also handled by specialized service companies under outsourcing arrangements. This multi-vendor approach, supported by regulatory oversight, helps ensure service reliability and operational efficiency across the country.
The migration of ATM terminals to EMV (chip and PIN) standards was mandated by the RBI and largely completed by the end of 2017. The RBI regulates ATM usage and fee structures. As of May 1, 2025, customers are entitled to five free transactions per month at their own bank’s ATMs, and a limited number of free transactions at other banks’ ATMs-three in metro cities and five in non-metro locations. Beyond these limits, banks may charge up to INR 23 per cash withdrawal at both their own and other banks’ ATMs. These charges apply to both financial and non-financial transactions and are periodically reviewed by the RBI to reflect changing operational costs.
In 2023, there were 257,901 ATMs, up by 0.54% from 2022. There were 6.75 billion cash withdrawals (-2.32%) with a total value of INR 32.87 billion (-0.08%) showing continued decline from the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 2,183.7 cash withdrawals per ATM per month, and the ATV per ATM cash withdrawal amounted to INR 4,864.03, equivalent to $58.89.
| 6 - ATMs and Cash Withdrawals in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| ATM Terminals with cash function | 221,703 | 221,848 | 233,066 | 244,787 | 256,520 | 257,901 | 259,289 | 0.54% | 16.33% | 3.07% |
| Ø Number of TXs per ATM per month | 3,710.6 | 3,601.0 | 2,228.2 | 2,245.1 | 2,247.6 | 2,183.7 | 2,121.7 | -2.84% | -41.15% | -10.06% |
| Number of ATM cash withdrawals (m) | 9,871.8 | 9,586.4 | 6,231.8 | 6,594.9 | 6,918.6 | 6,758.2 | 6,601.7 | -2.32% | -31.54% | -7.30% |
| - withdrawals on Indian cards (bn) | 9,869.4 | 9,583.9 | 6,228.8 | 6,592.7 | 6,917.0 | 6,756.3 | 6,599.4 | -2.32% | -31.54% | -7.30% |
| - withdrawals on foreign cards (m) | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 20.81% | -21.83% | -4.81% |
| Value of ATM cash withdrawals (INR bn) | 33,192.3 | 34,172.7 | 29,073.6 | 31,193.2 | 32,898.9 | 32,872.3 | 32,888.5 | -0.08% | -0.96% | -0.19% |
| - withdrawals on Indian cards (INR bn) | 33,153.2 | 34,135.6 | 29,052.3 | 31,177.4 | 32,886.4 | 32,857.2 | 32,871.8 | -0.09% | -0.89% | -0.18% |
| - withdrawals on foreign cards (INR bn) | 39.1 | 37.0 | 21.3 | 15.7 | 12.4 | 15.1 | 16.7 | 21.57% | -61.35% | -17.32% |
| ATV per ATM withdrawal (INR) | 3,362.32 | 3,564.71 | 4,665.39 | 4,729.87 | 4,755.15 | 4,864.03 | 5,236.82 | 2.29% | 44.66% | 7.66% |
| # ATM Terminals per 1m capita - India | 161.3 | 159.7 | 166.2 | 173.1 | 180.0 | 179.3 | 180.3 | -0.35% | 11.20% | 2.15% |
| Source: BIS. RBI | ||||||||||
Among the banks, SBI reported the largest number of ATMs (63,580) while HDFC reported 20,928 ATMs and cash recycle machines and ICICI had 16,277 ATMs.
POS Terminal Infrastructure
India’s Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal ecosystem is supported by a wide network of banks, payment aggregators, and third-party service providers, with hardware and software supplied by a mix of domestic and international vendors. Merchants typically acquire POS terminals through their acquiring bank or independent service providers, who offer options for purchase, lease, or pay-per-use models. The terminals are supplied and serviced by vendors such as including Worldline, VeriFone, Pine Labs, Mswipe, Payswiff, and Ezetap (Razorpay).
The country’s transition to EMV-compliant POS terminals was largely completed following the RBI’s directive to phase out magstripe-only devices. This transition enhanced transaction security and reduced counterfeit card fraud across physical retail environments.
The Indian POS market has seen accelerated adoption of contactless payment technologies, driven by rising consumer demand for convenience, government initiatives promoting digital transactions, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. By 2025, most new POS terminals deployed in India are NFC-enabled, supporting tap-and-go payments via contactless cards and mobile wallets. Mobile and portable POS solutions are gaining traction, particularly among small and medium-sized businesses and in regions with limited physical infrastructure.
According to RBI, in 2023, there were 8,567,404 POS terminals, a growth of 13.47% from 2022. There were 4.27 billion POS payments (+7.84%) with a total value of INR 10.46 trillion (+3.87% vs 2022). There were 41.5 payments per POS terminal per month, and the ATV per POS payment accounted for INR 2,450.20 ($29.66).
| 7 - POS Terminals in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 3Y | CAGR 3Y | |
| POS terminals | 3,722,229 | 4,248,777 | 4,585,005 | 5,498,311 | 7,550,065 | 8,567,404 | 9,721,825 | 13.47% | 86.86% | 13.32% |
| Ø Number of TXs per POS per month | - | - | 56.4 | 53.3 | 43.7 | 41.5 | 39.5 | -4.96% | -26.38% | -5.94% |
| Number of POS payments (m) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3,103.85 | 3,519.57 | 3,959.38 | 4,269.99 | 4,604.96 | 7.84% | 37.57% | 6.59% |
| Value of POS payments (INR bn) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6,565.53 | 8,392.24 | 10,072.18 | 10,462.31 | 10,867.55 | 3.87% | 59.35% | 9.77% |
| ATV per POS payment (INR) | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | 2,115.29 | 2,384.45 | 2,543.88 | 2,450.20 | 2,359.97 | -3.68% | 15.83% | 2.98% |
| # POS Terminals per 1m capita - India | 2,707.7 | 3,058.8 | 3,268.9 | 3,887.9 | 5,296.7 | 5,957.6 | 6,760.3 | 12.48% | 82.25% | 12.75% |
| Source: BIS, RBI. | ||||||||||
SBI claims to be one of the largest acquirers in the country with more than 3.31 million Merchant Payment Acceptance Touch Points, including 1.36 million POS machines.
Mobile Payments – Overview
In 2023, 80.6% of Indians have subscribed to a mobile phone according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). By 2024, an estimated 806 million Indians had internet access and about 60.1% accessed the internet from mobile phones. India has witnessed a dramatic leap in mobile-based financial activity, largely driven by smartphone penetration, low-cost internet, and pro-digital government initiatives such as Digital India and Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity. In a survey conducted by Statista between April 2023 and March 2024, about 46% of Indian respondents stated that they had paid with their smartphone for food and drinks in restaurants in the past 12 months.
India experienced a transformative period in mobile payments post-2016, largely driven by the launch of the UPI. This indigenous, real-time payment system, spearheaded by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), acted as a major catalyst for digital transactions. India possesses a substantial mobile phone subscription base, with a significant and growing proportion of the population owning smartphones. Internet access via mobile devices is widespread, fueled by increasing affordability of devices and data plans. Tablet penetration is also on the rise, contributing to a digitally engaged population. A significant adoption rate of mobile payments among Indian internet users is evident, driven by the ubiquity of mobile payment applications and their widespread use in daily transactions.
India’s mobile payment landscape is characterized by key initiatives and solutions including:
- UPI – its interoperability, ease of use (via VPAs, QR codes, and mobile numbers), and government support
- Mobile wallets (E-wallets) with major players including Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay
- In-store QR code payments using apps like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, and BHIM
- Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) leveraging the national biometric identity system (Aadhaar)
- Mobile banking applications of Banks in India, integrating UPI and other payment functionalities
- Card-based payments via mobile – Contactless card tokenization for tap-to-pay via NFC-enabled phones using Google Wallet, and Samsung Wallet
The mobile payment mix in India is increasingly becoming the primary driver of the overall digital payment mix.
The Indian m-payment mix is heavily skewed towards UPI, which acts as the foundational layer for a vast majority of mobile transactions.
Based on data from the RBI, there were about 1.4 billion mobile wallets in India in 2023, up from 1.3 billion in 2022. In the same year, mobile payments surged as 111.9 billion (+53.18%) mobile payments were made via mobile apps with a total value of INR 280.5 trillion (+37.88%). Mobile payments have grown in India due to the widespread adoption of smartphone and rising internet penetration as well as government initiatives to improve financial inclusion such as demonetisation, Digital India and the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity.
Internet (browser-based) payments grew much slower by 2.9% from 2022 in terms of volume to 4.39 billion transactions and total value of internet transactions grew by 7.19% to INR 974.4 trillion. While mobile app-based payments have seen more volumes in India, it seems most people prefer to use internet browser-based payments for transactions with large amounts as seen in the average value of transaction of INR 2,507.1 for mobile payments Vs INR 222,016.4 for internet payments.
UPI payments also continued to rise in India with 117.6 billion payments reported by the RBI in 2023, an increase of 58.85% from 2022 with total transactions value up by 45.20% to INR 182.8 trillion.
| 8 - Mobile Payments in India | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Mobile Wallets (m) | 1,952 | 1,251 | 1,335 | 1,429 | 1,531 | 7.09% | -26.76% | -6.04% |
| Ø payments per e-money card per year | 11039575.5 | 34899004.9 | 54734268.0 | 78288825.8 | 111,979,944 | 43.03% | 609.17% | 47.96% |
| Number of Mobile Payments (m) - Mobile-app based | 21,545.2 | 43,662.1 | 73,051.9 | 111,898.3 | 171,401.9 | 53.18% | 419.36% | 39.03% |
| Value of Mobile Payments (INR bn) | 75,658.0 | 137,054.6 | 203,472.5 | 280,548.3 | 386,820.6 | 37.88% | 270.81% | 29.97% |
| Value per Transaction (INR) | 3,511.59 | 3,138.98 | 2,785.32 | 2,507.17 | 2,256.80 | -9.99% | -28.60% | -6.52% |
| Number of Internet Payments (m) - Internet Browser based | 3,449.4 | 4,063.2 | 4,265.1 | 4,389.0 | 4,516.45 | 2.90% | 27.24% | 4.94% |
| Value of Mobile Payments (INR bn) | 649,422.1 | 790,383.4 | 909,060.5 | 974,420.7 | 1,044,480.24 | 7.19% | 50.04% | 8.45% |
| Value per Transaction (INR) | 188,271.31 | 194,522.11 | 213,141.21 | 222,016.41 | 231,261.17 | 4.16% | 17.92% | 3.35% |
| Number of Payments via UPI (m) | 18,880.9 | 38,733.1 | 74,039.7 | 117,608.8 | 138,371.01 | 58.85% | 522.90% | 44.17% |
| Value of Payments via UPI (INR bn) | 33,877.5 | 71,576.1 | 125,944.9 | 182,876.3 | 265,542.71 | 45.20% | 439.82% | 40.10% |
| Value per Transaction (INR) | 1,794.27 | 1,847.93 | 1,701.05 | 1,554.96 | 1,421.41 | -8.59% | -13.34% | -2.82% |
| Source: RBI. | ||||||||
Instant Payments
India has emerged as a global leader in instant payments, with a robust ecosystem driven by innovation, regulatory support, and widespread adoption across consumers and businesses. Instant payments in India enable real-time or near real-time transfer of funds between individuals, businesses, and other entities. These systems operate 24/7, 365 days a year, providing unparalleled convenience and efficiency. India is recognized as a pioneer in Real Time Payments (RTP) products globally. As per ACI Worldwide Report 2024, approximately 49% of the global RTP transactions in 2023 were in India and approximately 70% of digital transactions have been through UPI. This is not only an indicator of the popularity of the product but also supports the reason why other countries have started adopting and leveraging the ‘India stack’ while building their own RTP products.
Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) pioneered instant payments in India. IMPS launched in 2010 as the first real-time interbank electronic fund transfer service with 24/7 availability. IMPS enables instant transfer of funds between bank accounts through mobile banking, internet banking, ATMs, and SMS. By 2024, IMPS processed 5.93 billion transactions worth INR 707 trillion.
Although the IMPS remained a relevant instant payment system, especially through traditional banking channels, UPI has surpassed IMPS in overall volume. UPI was launched in 2016 by the NPCI and has become the most popular and transformative instant payment system in India. UPI allows seamless fund transfers between bank accounts using a single mobile application. Users can link multiple bank accounts to one app and transact using Virtual Payment Addresses (VPAs), QR codes, mobile numbers, or account details. The UPI was launched to deliver a superior user experience, simplify transactions, and drive financial inclusion and it’s success is hinged on its ease of use and availability, mobile-first approach, and lower transaction costs. By 2024, UPS processed 172.2 billion transactions worth INR 2,468 trillion.
Central Bank Digital Currencies, Cryptocurrency Products
In 2023, the Indian payment ecosystem was characterized by a dynamic mix of traditional cash usage, a rapidly expanding digital payments infrastructure, growing cryptocurrency activity from private providers, and active development of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) – The Digital Cash Challenge
Central bank digital currency (CBDC), also called digital fiat currency or digital base money, is a digital currency issued by a national central bank (NCB), rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the NCB and denominated in the sovereign currency, as is the case with physical banknotes and coins.
All CBDCs are under the authority of the respective national central bank, and they are part of the domestic cash payment ecosystem. Rather than a new currency, CBDC is a form of central bank electronic money that could be used by households and businesses to make payments. In addition, most CBDC implementations will likely not use or need any sort of distributed ledger such as a blockchain.
Unlike “retail CBDC,” which is generally designed as a central bank liability universally accessible to individuals and businesses within a jurisdiction’s financial system, “wholesale CBDC” refers to a digitized central bank liability designed for sizable (generally interbank) transactions, and for which access is limited to certain financial institutions.
National Central Banks (NCBs) have been providing trusted money to the public for hundreds of years as part of their public policy objectives. Trusted money is a public good. It offers a common unit of account, store of value and medium of exchange for the sale of goods and services and settlement of financial transactions. Providing cash for public use is an important tool for central banks. Yet the world is changing.
Even before COVID-19, cash use for payments was declining fast and convenient digital payments have grown enormously in volume and diversity. To evolve and pursue their public policy objectives in a digital world, central banks are actively researching the pros and cons of offering a digital currency to the public, a “general purpose” CBDC.
Central banks’ interest in CBDC has increased as a potential means of delivering their public policy objectives. Profound, ongoing changes across finance, technology and society, as well as the recent COVID-19 crisis, provided additional impetus for the research of, and experimentation related to, CBDCs.
CBDC is a national digital currency issued by the central bank that is expected to replace or coexist with fiat money and hold the same value. Mobile money, on the other hand, utilises existing commercial banking-based accounting to manage customer wallet balances based on an exchange with cash or lines of credit and loans.
CBDC is a direct liability on the central bank as it is the main issuer of the currency, whereas digital money is the liability of commercial banks and other authorised financial institutions using funds on account. Although some implementation approaches propose that CBDC can be implemented in either an indirect or hybrid form, its liability remains on the respective national central bank.
Background on CBDC Evolution
In October 2020, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features, identifying the foundational principles necessary for any publicly available CBDC to help central banks meet their public policy objectives.
The report focused on a publicly available “general purpose” CBDC (a digital payment instrument, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank).
A “wholesale” CBDC, restricted to financial institutions, is also an active area of exploration, notes the report, for central banks but one that carries different opportunities, challenges, and risks. The report explored the use cases for, and challenges and opportunities arising from, the possible issuance of a general purpose CBDC.
In September 2021, the same seven central banks and the BIS followed up with the publication of a new set of reports exploring the potential of retail CBDCs, including policy options and practical implementation issues. While none of the central banks has yet decided to proceed with a retail CBDC, they recognise such an instrument would have wide-ranging implications. Delivering on the future needs of consumers would require systems that encourage innovation, choice and competition among a diverse mix of intermediaries.
- The first report explores how private-public collaboration and interoperability can be designed into CBDC systems to achieve this objective. In particular, policies about privacy and access to payment data would be key design elements in order to maintain public trust.
- The second report focuses on how a CBDC could best serve people and businesses in a fast-changing technological landscape. Lessons from previous payment innovations compiled in the report, show that success often requires harnessing network effects and not requiring users to obtain new devices. Nonetheless, there would not be a “one-size-fits-all” solution and CBDC adoption strategies would need to consider multiple perspectives through public consultations.
- The third report outlines the possible impact of CBDC issuance on banking systems, in terms of intermediation capacity and overall resilience. Preliminary analysis highlights the importance of allowing the financial system time to adjust and the flexibility to use safeguards to influence CBDC adoption.
BIS reported that a 2021 survey of central banks found that “86% are actively researching the potential for CBDCs, 60% were experimenting with the technology and 14% were deploying pilot projects.
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is piloting a ‘digital yuan’, known as e-CNY, in various cities, often in association with major sporting events, such as the Winter Olympics.
The ECB published a paper on the potential of a “digital euro” in October 2020, exploring the “benefits and risks” of such an initiative. It completed a public consultation in January 2021 and a series of focus groups in December 2021. Its investigation stage is expected to continue until October 2023, after which the ECB “will decide whether to start developing a digital euro.”
The US Federal Reserve reported in February 2022 that while it has made no decisions about “whether to pursue or implement” a CBDC, it was “exploring the potential benefits and risks of CBDCs from a variety of angles and was inviting public feedback on discussion papers.
The Bank of Japan said in October 2020 that it had no plans for a CBDC and was committed to maintain the cash system as long as there was public demand for it. It nevertheless intended to explore technical feasibility through a proof of concept, consider institutional arrangements and coordinate approaches with domestic and international stakeholders. In 2023, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has announced that it will begin a pilot for its digital yen with commercial financial institutions. In February 2023, Bank of Japan has embarked on a CBDC trial.
While CBDCs are still in experimental phases across major economies, 2024 has seen increased momentum towards real-world implementation, with several countries, notably China and the ECB, moving closer to full-scale rollouts. Public-private collaboration, technological innovation, and privacy concerns remain central to future CBDC development. Central banks worldwide continue to balance innovation with maintaining public trust and financial stability in this rapidly evolving space.
Global Status of CBDCs
Most National Central Banks (NCBs) are involved in different stages of a CDBC project. Especially, the NCBs have different views on which kind of CDBC they would intend to launch as a digital currency:
- A “retail-CBDC” designed as an NCB liability universally accessible to individuals and businesses within a jurisdiction’s financial system.
- A “wholesale-CBDC” that refers to a digitized central bank liability designed for sizable (generally interbank) transactions, and for which access is limited to participating financial institutions.
- Both a “retail-CDBC” and a “wholesale-CDBC”.
As of 2023, the global CDBC status reveals that four central banks – Nigeria (e-Naira), Eastern Caribbean (D-Cash), Jamaica (JAM-DEX), and the Bahamas (Sand Dollar) – have introduced a domestic CBDC scheme.
Six countries have launched a CDBC pilot: France, Canada, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Ghana.
The NCBs of most other countries are involved in either a CDBC proof-of-concept phase – including Norway, Hungary, and Sweden – or they are still in a CDBC research stage.
So far, Ecuador is the only country that has cancelled its CBDC ambitions, Dinero electronico.
CBDC and India
As of May 2025, India’s Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), known as the Digital Rupee (e₹), remains in the pilot phase, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) adopting a cautious and phased approach to its implementation.
On December 1st, 2022, the Reserve Bank launched the first pilot programme for retail digital rupees (e-R). For this pilot’s phase-by-phase participation, eight banks were picked. The first phase to start with four banks in four locations throughout the nation: State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, and IDFC First Bank. Four additional institutions, including Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, to subsequently join this experiment.
Two broad categories of CBDC can be distinguished: general-purpose or retail (CBDC-R) and wholesale (CBDC-W). Launched in December 2022, the retail pilot has expanded to include over 5 million users and approximately 420,000 merchants as of mid-2024. The Wholesale pilot was initiated in November 2022 and focuses on interbank settlements and government securities transactions.
The RBI continues to adopt a measured approach to the e₹, focusing on technological robustness and user experience before a full-scale launch. While the pilot has seen significant participation, the central bank emphasizes the importance of addressing challenges related to scalability, interoperability, and user adoption.
Pros and Cons of CBDCs
According to research by the Bank of England, BIS, and by several other central banks, the benefits of CBDCs include supporting increased innovation in the payment system with:
- ‘Programmable money’ that enables transactions to occur according to certain conditions, rules or events
- Automatic payment of taxes at the POS
- Allowing the government to make direct transfers to individuals
- Automatic payment of dividends directly to shareholders
- Electricity meters paying suppliers directly based on power usage
- Making ‘micropayments’ at much lower costs
- A more reliable and attractive alternative to stablecoins (see Stablecoins section below)
- A well-designed CBDC could help to retain some of the beneficial characteristics of cash that current electronic bank deposits don’t. A CBDC might focus more on promoting privacy or support financial inclusion
- CBDCs could facilitate better cross-border payments systems by linking CBDCs to speed up cross-border payments
- More effective transmission of monetary policy
- Changes in base rates could be passed onto consumers more quickly and efficiently.
Possible challenges related to use of CBDCs could include:
- Disintermediation and reducing the banking sector’s balance sheet – When someone converts bank deposits to CBDC, they reduce the size of the commercial bank’s overall holdings. This process of disintermediation is an inevitable consequence of introducing a CBDC. If banks’ balance sheets were to reduce too much and too quickly, they might need to seek funding from elsewhere. This could push up the cost of their lending to businesses and consumers.
- Risk of bank runs – introducing a CBDC could potentially make it easier for runs on the banking system to occur. At the moment, such factors as the difficulty of storing large amounts of cash limit such risks. A CBDC would remove many of those limits.
- Offline usage – the CBDC payment system would probably require a connection to the central ledger, which may not always be available. While it might still be possible to initiate a payment, the recipient would have to trust the sender to have sufficient funds. There is also a risk of someone attempting to spend the same money twice.
- Cyber-attack – BIS warns that a successful attack on a CBDC system could quickly threaten many users, as well as their faith in the system. This is because there would be so many ‘endpoints’ in a linked, centralised system. This would make a CBDC system a critical piece of national infrastructure.
- Data privacy – Fully anonymous CBDC are unlikely to be permitted due to the need to comply with know-your-customer and anti-money laundering checks. A CBDC would inevitably allow more tracking and less anonymity than cash does. BIS suggests that “a key national policy question will be deciding who can access which parts of [this data] and under what circumstances”.
Unregulated Cryptocurrency Products – Background
Regulators and national central banks are challenged by unregulated independent cryptocurrency products. Whereas CBDCs are under the authority of the central bank, almost all cryptocurrencies are decentralised, and not controlled or managed by any central authority.
Obviously, financial market authorities and the national central banks are not in favour of unregulated cryptocurrency products, and they see them as a systematic risk for the financial system. Their intention to regulate the respective cryptocurrency exchange platforms has gained momentum.
Cryptocurrencies, originally designed as a store of value, are digital assets, developed and maintained on decentralised blockchains, and they can be used as a medium of exchange or payment method. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular forms of cryptocurrencies worldwide used by consumers and businesses for transactions.
As of 2022, over 400 million people worldwide used cryptocurrencies, with merchants and businesses in more sectors accepting it as a form of payment. The major payment schemes VISA and Mastercard, PayPal and along with a growing number of financial institutions, have launched services allowing consumers to purchase or use cryptocurrencies for a range of applications.
According to a 2022 Deloitte survey, around two-thirds (64%) of surveyed merchants indicated that their customers have significant interest in using digital currencies for payments, and 83% expect consumer interest in digital currencies for payments to increase or significantly increase over the next 12 months.
In addition, merchants are motivated by the prospect of enabling immediate access to funds (40% of respondents), taking advantage of blockchain-based innovations in decentralised digital finance (39%), and allowing in-house management of the revenue cycle/treasury/finance department (39%).
Over half (54%) of large retailers (with revenues of $500 million and up) have invested more than $1 million on enabling digital currency payments, while only 6% of small retailers (with revenues of under $10 million) did so.
A 2022 survey from Checkout.com found a sharp rise in people wanting to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, with 40% of 18-35-year-old consumers citing their desire to experiment with using crypto as a payment method, up from less than 30% in 2021. Meanwhile, over 80% of businesses say offering crypto has attracted new customers, led to a decrease in chargebacks, while just over 60% have seen higher authorisation rates accepting crypto payments.
A recent report by Triple-A put cryptocurrency ownership in Europe at around 49 million people.
Stablecoins
Stablecoins are a type of asset-backed cryptocurrency, whose value is typically pegged to the value of an underlying asset such as USD, GBP, or commodities like gold. Stablecoins are partially backed by real assets, and they are designed to have a value pegged to real-world assets, therefore avoiding the extreme volatility that affects cryptocurrencies.
Stablecoins offer the potential benefits of cryptocurrencies, like transparency, security, immutability, and decentralised control, while maintaining the guarantees and stability that come with using fiat currency. Stablecoins have potential to be used in cross-border payments, providing a secure, online environment for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions to take place without needing decentralised cryptocurrencies or to pay fees to convert money into local currencies.
As of 2024, there were more than 200 stablecoins globally, comprising a market that’s worth approximately $174 billion.
A survey of central banks in January 2021 found that two-thirds of respondents are actively researching the potential impact of stablecoins on financial stability. However, some regulators in the US and China, consider stablecoins as a potential serious risk to financial systems. The risk is especially high with centralised coins, such as those backed by fiat and issued by private organisations, as economic power would be disproportionately concentrated on a single entity.
The widespread use of stablecoins in payment platforms could also pose a systemic risk, in relation to the validation and confirmation of stablecoin transactions which could interfere with payment systems. If stablecoin users couldn’t access money in their e-wallets and businesses couldn’t receive payments, economic activity would be greatly disrupted. However, these risks have not deterred major institutions like JP Morgan and VISA to explore stablecoin use cases via partnerships and internal R&D.
Tether As of 2024, Tether remains the largest stablecoin globally, holding a market share of over 50%. This dominance is driven by its widespread usage and liquidity in crypto markets. Its nearest competitors include USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD), and decentralized stablecoins like DAI, although Tether’s market share far exceeds them. Recent reports have shown Tether’s involvement in major financial markets and even Bitcoin mining, further reinforcing its stronghold on the crypto landscape.
Regarding Facebook’s Diem (formerly Libra) project, it was officially abandoned. Diem’s assets were sold off to Silvergate Capital in early 2022, marking the end of the initiative that once aimed to create a globally accessible digital currency. Regulatory pressures and internal challenges led to the dissolution of the project.
Market Size and Dynamics
Cards in Issue
Based on RBI figures, there were 1.06 billion bank cards in India by end-2023, up by 3.74% from 2022. Debit cards amounted to 90.71% of the card base while credit cards accounted for 9.24%. In total, there were 0.96 cards per capita at end 2023.
In total, there were 960.8 million (+2.28%) debit cards in circulation in 2023, credit cards totalled 97.9 million (+20.69%), and cards with delayed debit function were 508,935 (+9.21%).
| 9 - Cards Issued in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (000s) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y |
| Cards with ATM (cash) function | 953,486 | 969,150 | 946,587 | 1,007,153 | 1,021,119 | 1,059,294 | 1,090,976 | 3.74% | 11.10% | 2.13% |
| Cards with a payment function | 953,486 | 969,150 | 946,587 | 1,007,153 | 1,021,119 | 1,059,294 | 1,045,102 | 3.74% | 11.10% | 2.13% |
| - Cards with a debit function | 905,813 | 923,396 | 885,660 | 937,742 | 939,466 | 960,881 | 938,978 | 2.28% | 6.08% | 1.19% |
| - Cards with a delayed debit function | 584 | 584 | 531 | 463 | 466 | 509 | 502 | 9.21% | -12.92% | -2.73% |
| - Cards with a credit function | 47,089 | 45,171 | 60,397 | 68,949 | 81,187 | 97,905 | 105,622 | 20.59% | 107.92% | 15.77% |
| Cards total | 953,486 | 969,150 | 946,587 | 1,007,153 | 1,021,119 | 1,059,294 | 1,045,102 | 3.74% | 11.10% | 2.13% |
| - Cards with e-money function | 115,053 | 100,975 | 166,270 | 260,090 | 288,805 | 325,133 | 938,978 | 12.58% | 182.59% | 23.09% |
| Payment cards per capita | 0.78 | 0.77 | 0.79 | 0.90 | 0.92 | 0.96 | 0.73 | 4.76% | 23.85% | 4.37% |
| Note: there are a few payment cards without cash function. | ||||||||||
| Source: BIS. | ||||||||||
Card Fraud
India’s rapid digital payment growth, fueled by credit/debit card adoption, e-commerce, and mobile transactions, has also led to a rise in card-related fraud. While regulations and security technologies have evolved significantly, card fraud remains a major risk vector, particularly in card-not-present (CNP) transactions.
In 2024, RBI reported 27,604 cases of card and internet fraud with the amount involved in these cases of INR 1.214 billion. These represents respective increases of 130.4% and 93.9% from 2023. Both card and internet fraud together accounted for 44.7% of the total fraud amount and 85.3% of the number of fraud cases, highlighting their prevalence within the broader financial fraud landscape. In terms of number of frauds, the share of card and internet frauds was highest for all bank groups in 2024.
Fraudsters are constantly refining their techniques and are leveraging sophisticated AI tools and exploiting system vulnerabilities resulting in a persistent escalation of fraud incidents. The frequency and rate in increase of card and internet frauds has raised concerns regarding security measures across the ecosystem. Payment product strategies are evolving to add elements of friction in the customer journey to tackle fraud risks.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has implemented a comprehensive set of security measures to address the rising threat of card and internet fraud in the country. These initiatives target both technological vulnerabilities and user awareness, aiming to create a safer digital payments environment. Initiatives by the RBI such as Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for all Card-Not-Present (CNP) transactions to be authenticated via card details and OTP, tokenisation of card numbers, card control features that allows users enable and disable online usage and set transaction limits, among other initiatives, are aimed at tackling these fraud incidents.
Card Use
The use of credit cards in the country has shown remarkable growth. Credit card payments have shown a compound annual growth rate of 13.58% between 2019 and 2023, and they accounted for 56.88% of card payments by number and 73.67% by value.
In 2023, Indian cards accounted for 5.85 billion payments (-8.65%) with a total value of INR 23.54 billion, up by 13.67% from 2022. The ATV per card payment was INR 4,019.84 ($48.67), and there was an average of 5.5 payments per card per year.
| 10 - Payments with Indian Cards | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Cards with a payment function | 953,486 | 969,150 | 946,587 | 1,007,153 | 1,021,119 | 1,059,294 | 1,045,102 | 3.74% | 11.10% | 2.13% |
| Ø payments per card per year | 6.5 | 7.3 | 6.3 | 6.2 | 6.3 | 5.5 | 5782.4 | -11.94% | -14.64% | -3.12% |
| Ø payment value per card per year | ₹ 12,552 | ₹ 14,405 | ₹ 13,246 | ₹ 16,152 | ₹ 20,286 | ₹ 22,228 | €25,111.7 | 9.58% | 77.09% | 12.11% |
| Payments (m) | 6,176.9 | 7,039.9 | 5,952.7 | 6,243.2 | 6,412.0 | 5,857.5 | 6,043.2 | -8.65% | -5.17% | -1.06% |
| - with debit cards (m) | 4,414.3 | 4,953.2 | 4,159.2 | 4,086.8 | 3,644.6 | 2,525.6 | 2,258.7 | -30.70% | -42.79% | -10.57% |
| - with credit cards (m) | 1,762.6 | 2,086.7 | 1,793.5 | 2,156.4 | 2,767.4 | 3,332.0 | 3,784.5 | 20.40% | 89.04% | 13.58% |
| Value of payments (INR bn) | 11,968.23 | 13,960.78 | 12,538.03 | 16,267.18 | 20,714.35 | 23,546.40 | 26,244.27 | 13.67% | 96.74% | 14.49% |
| - with debit cards (INR bn) | 5,934.75 | 6,833.67 | 6,412.56 | 7,388.36 | 7,419.41 | 6,199.37 | 6,253.69 | -16.44% | 4.46% | 0.88% |
| - with credit cards (INR bn) | 6,033.48 | 7,127.11 | 6,125.47 | 8,878.82 | 13,294.94 | 17,347.03 | 19,990.58 | 30.48% | 187.51% | 23.52% |
| ATV per card payment | ₹ 1,937.59 | ₹ 1,983.09 | ₹ 2,106.28 | ₹ 2,605.58 | ₹ 3,230.56 | ₹ 4,019.84 | €4,342.75 | 24.43% | 107.47% | 15.71% |
| Source: BIS. | ||||||||||
Card Use Per Capita
Card use in India is relatively low compared to other countries and even compared to countries in South Asia. In 2023, there were 1.76 debit card payments per capita (-31.31%) while credit card use was 2.3 payments per capita (+19.34%). In total, there were 4.1 payments.
| 11 - Card Payments Per Capita in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Debit card payments | 3.21 | 3.57 | 2.97 | 2.89 | 2.56 | 1.76 | 1.2 | -31.31% | -45.31% | -11.37% |
| Debit card value | ₹ 63.12 | ₹ 69.88 | ₹ 61.70 | ₹ 70.70 | ₹ 66.22 | ₹ 52.19 | ₹ 50.24 | -21.19% | -17.31% | -3.73% |
| Credit card payments | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 1.9 | 19.34% | 80.70% | 12.56% |
| Credit card value | ₹ 64.17 | ₹ 72.88 | ₹ 58.94 | ₹ 84.96 | ₹ 118.66 | ₹ 146.04 | ₹ 172.15 | 23.07% | 127.59% | 17.88% |
| Total card payments | 4.5 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 3.1 | -9.45% | -9.35% | -1.94% |
| Total card value | ₹ 127.29 | ₹ 142.77 | ₹ 120.63 | ₹ 155.65 | ₹ 184.89 | ₹ 198.23 | ₹ 222.39 | 7.22% | 55.73% | 9.26% |
| Source: calculated using BIS data, population figures and exchange rates. | ||||||||||
Debit Card Use
In 2023, there were 2.53 billion debit card payments (-30.70%) with a total value of INR 6.2 trillion (-16.44% vs 2022). The ATV per debit card payment accounted for INR 2,454.88 ($29.72), and there were 2.6 payments per debit card per year.
| 12 - Payments with Indian Debit Cards | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Debit Cards | 905,813 | 923,396 | 885,660 | 937,742 | 939,466 | 960,881 | 938,978 | 2.28% | 6.08% | 1.19% |
| Ø payments per debit card per year | 4.9 | 5.4 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 2.4 | -32.25% | -46.07% | -11.62% |
| Ø payments value (INR) per debit card per year | 6,551.8 | 7,400.6 | 7,240.4 | 7,878.9 | 7,897.5 | 6,451.8 | 6,660.1 | -18.31% | -1.53% | -0.31% |
| Payments (m) | 4,414.28 | 4,953.18 | 4,159.22 | 4,086.78 | 3,644.60 | 2,525.56 | 2,258.70 | -30.70% | -42.79% | -10.57% |
| Value of payments (INR bn) | 5,934.75 | 6,833.67 | 6,412.56 | 7,388.36 | 7,419.41 | 6,199.37 | 6,253.69 | -16.44% | 4.46% | 0.88% |
| ATV per debit card payment (INR) | 1,344.44 | 1,379.65 | 1,541.77 | 1,807.87 | 2,035.73 | 2,454.65 | 2,768.72 | 20.58% | 82.58% | 12.79% |
| Total debit card payments per capita | 3.2 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 1.6 | -31.31% | -45.31% | -11.37% |
| Total debit card value per capita (INR) | 4,317.2 | 4,919.7 | 4,571.8 | 5,224.4 | 5,205.1 | 4,310.9 | 4,348.7 | -17.18% | -0.15% | -0.03% |
| Source: RBI, BIS. | ||||||||||
Credit Card Use
In 2023, there were 3.33 billion credit card payments (+20.40%) with the total value INR 17.34 billion (+30.48% from 2022). The ATV per credit card payment was INR 5,206.22 ($63.03), and there were 34.0 payments per credit card per year.
| 13 - Payments with Indian Credit Cards | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Credit Cards | 47,089 | 45,171 | 60,397 | 68,949 | 81,187 | 97,905 | 105,622 | 20.59% | 107.92% | 15.77% |
| Ø payments per credit card per year | 37.4 | 46.2 | 29.7 | 31.3 | 34.1 | 34.0 | 35.8 | -0.16% | -9.08% | -1.89% |
| Ø payments value (INR) per credit card per year | 128,130.3 | 157,780.8 | 101,420.1 | 128,774.3 | 163,757.2 | 177,182.9 | 189,265.3 | 8.20% | 38.28% | 6.70% |
| Payments (m) | 1,762.59 | 2,086.72 | 1,793.46 | 2,156.43 | 2,767.40 | 3,331.98 | 3,784.54 | 20.40% | 89.04% | 13.58% |
| Value of payments (INR bn) | 6,033.48 | 7,127.11 | 6,125.47 | 8,878.82 | 13,294.94 | 17,347.03 | 19,990.58 | 30.48% | 187.51% | 23.52% |
| ATV per credit card payment (INR) | 3,423.08 | 3,415.46 | 3,415.45 | 4,117.38 | 4,804.12 | 5,206.22 | 5,282.17 | 8.37% | 52.09% | 8.75% |
| Total credit card payments per capita | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 27.32% | 80.70% | 12.56% |
| Total credit card payments value per capita (INR) | 4,389.1 | 5,131.0 | 4,367.2 | 6,278.3 | 9,327.0 | 12,062.7 | 13,901.0 | 48.56% | 174.84% | 22.41% |
| Source: RBI, BIS. | ||||||||||
E-Money
In India, e-money services are governed under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) through its Master Directions on Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs).
India’s e-money products are primarily offered in the form of:
- Closed, semi-closed, and open system PPIs
- Mobile wallets, prepaid cards, and transit wallets
- Software-based QR-code and NFC-enabled e-wallets
As of 2023, leading e-money players include:
- Paytm Payments Bank
- PhonePe Wallet
- Amazon Pay Wallet
- Mobikwik
- Ola Money
- ICICI Pockets and HDFC PayZapp (bank-issued wallets)
In addition, non-bank fintech companies and NBFCs have also been permitted to issue semi-closed PPIs under RBI’s authorization. These wallets are used for a variety of payments, including retail purchases, utility bills, ticketing, tolls, and P2P transfers.
In 2023, there were 325,133 e-money cards in circulation in India, according to BIS data and these cards were used in 7.78 billion transactions worth INR 2.84 trillion.
| 14 - E-Money in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| - Cards with e-money function | 115,053 | 100,975 | 166,270 | 260,090 | 288,805 | 325,133 | 366,031 | 12.58% | 182.59% | 23.09% |
| Ø payments per e-money card per year | 40019.1 | 51225.4 | 29817.4 | 23843.7 | 25654.0 | 23934.4 | 22,330 | -6.70% | -40.19% | -9.77% |
| Number of E-Money Payments (m) | 4,604.3 | 5,172.5 | 4,957.7 | 6,201.5 | 7,409.0 | 7,781.9 | 8,173.5 | 5.03% | 69.01% | 11.07% |
| Value of E-Money Payments (INR bn) | 2,128.8 | 2,207.7 | 1,895.5 | 2,650.4 | 2,928.7 | 2,839.7 | 2,753.5 | -3.04% | 33.40% | 5.93% |
| Value per Transaction (INR) | 462.34 | 426.82 | 382.34 | 427.38 | 395.28 | 364.91 | 336.87 | -7.68% | -21.07% | -4.62% |
| Source: BIS. | ||||||||||
Leading Card Issuers
SBI, India’s largest public sector bank and a dominant issuer of debit and credit cards claimed a market share of 25.04% in debit card spends in 2023 and more than 650 million transactions on its debit cards. In FY24, 2.13 million cards were issued by SBI.
The bank offers an end-to-end issuance of its credit cards as well as virtual debit card via the YONO App. As of year-end 2023, the bank had 228.7 million active debit card users and had issued 910,000 metro and transit prepaid cards.
HDFC reported more than 50 million debit cards and a landmark 20 million credit cards in force in 2023. In 2023, 6.3 million new credit cards were issued covering retail and business segments and 85% of the bank’s credit cards were sold digitally.
With over 70 million cards issued (credit, debit and pre-paid) and a widely spread acceptance network across the online and offline merchant ecosystem, HDFC Bank continues to maintain a leadership position across multiple product offerings in the payments landscape.
ICICI had 16 million cards in force as of year-end 2023 and recorded a 28% increase in credit card spends during the year. The Bank has key partnerships with Amazon, MakeMyTrip and Emirates to offer co-branded credit cards. Amazon Pay credit cards continued to see healthy traction with over 4 million credit cards issued by 2023. The growth in credit card transactions was driven by higher activation rate through digital onboarding of customers, acquiring progressive profile customers and automated and effective portfolio management.
Data Tables
| India 2025 Market Overview | |
|---|---|
| Payment Organisation | NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India), an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) to create a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure. The NPCI manages and operates retail payment systems like UPI, IMPS, RuPay, etc., across all banks |
| Domestic Payment Brands | RuPay cards; co-badged Discover, Diners club, and JCB for international use. UPI (Unified Payments Interface) is the mobile A2A payment service in India. |
| Market Structure | Card usage in India quite low compared to other South Asian countries at 4.1 card payments per capita in 2023. The domestic card scheme – RuPay – launched in 2012. Now integrated with UPI, FASTag, NCMC and co-branded with Discover, JCB, and UnionPay Evolving Open Banking payment ecosystem |
| Notable Market Trends | Dominance of UPI in retail transactions, Increase in digital wallets and alternative payment instruments, digital Rupee pilots, Expansion in credit and BNPL. |
| Major Card Issuers | HDFC, SBI Card, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank. |
| Major Card Acquirers | SBI Payment Services, HDFC, Axis Bank. |
| Major Card Processors | PayTM, RazorPay, PayU |
| India Key Statistics 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Population | 1.43 billion, with 0.96 bank cards per capita. |
| Cards | Debit: 960.8 million Credit: 97.9 million Delayed Debit: 0.5 million E-money: 325.1 million Total: 1.38 billion |
| Card Payments | Debit: 2.52 billion; value INR 6.19 trillion ($75.0 billion) Credit: 3.33 billion; value INR 17.34 trillion ($210.0 billion) Total: 5.85 billion; value INR 23.54 trillion ($285.0 billion) |
| POS Terminals | 8,567,404 |
| POS Payments | All cards: 4.26 billion; value: INR 10.46 trillion ($126.7 billion) |
| ATMs | 257,901 |
| ATM Withdrawals | All cards: 6.75 billion; value: INR 32.87 billion ($398.0 billion) |
| Digital A2A Payments | Credit Transfers: 134.0 billion, value: INR 636.9 trillion |
| 1 - Leading India Banks in 2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank | Ownership | Total Assets ($bn) | Market share |
| State Bank of India (SBI) | Government of India: 56.92%, Life Insurance Corporation of India: 8.83%, Others: 34.25% | 815.2 | 27.7% |
| HDFC Bank | JP Morgan: 13.53%, SBI NIFTY 50 ETF: 5.80%, Others: 80.67% | 487.9 | 16.6% |
| ICICI Bank | Deutsche Bank Trust Company: 19.58%, SBI mutual fund: 5.74%, Life Insurance Corporation of India: 5.64%, Others: 69.04% | 226.6 | 7.7% |
| Punjab National Bank (PNB) | Government of India: 73.15%, Others: 26.85% | 189.1 | 6.4% |
| Bank of Baroda (BoB) | Government of India: 63.97%, Others: 36.03% | 176.6 | 6.0% |
| Kotak Mahindra Bank | Life Insurance Corporation of India: 6.46%, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board: 2.68%, SBI Mutual Fund: 3.7%, Others: 87.16% | 92.9 | 3.2% |
| Axis Bank | Life Insurance Corporation of India: 8.18%, ICICI Prudential AMC: 5.33%, SBI Mutual Fund: 5.0%, Others: 81.49% | 178.8 | 6.1% |
| Canara Bank | Government of India: 62.93%, Others: 37.07% | 167.2 | 5.7% |
| Union Bank of India | Government of India: 74.76%, Others: 25.24% | 168.5 | 5.7% |
| IndusInd Bank | IndusInd International Holdings Limited: 11.5%, The Bank of New York Mellon: 7.92%, Others: 80.58% | 62.3 | 2.1% |
| Leading banks total | 2,565.2 | 87.1% | |
| other banks | 378.9 | 12.9% | |
| Total assets | 2,944.1 | 100.0% | |
| Source: Reserve Bank of India, Bank's Annual Reports, Yearbook research. | |||
| 2 - Cashless Payment Transactions in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (millions) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y |
| Payment cards | 10,832.8 | 12,274.6 | 10,942.3 | 12,473.7 | 13,854.2 | 13,677.2 | 14,330.0 | -1.28% | 26.26% | 4.77% |
| Cheques issued | 1123.8 | 1070.0 | 708.4 | 721.7 | 722.1 | 672.8 | 607.1 | -6.84% | -40.13% | -9.75% |
| Credit transfers | 11,854.3 | 18,486.5 | 27,969.0 | 49,826.8 | 88,102.5 | 134,012.3 | 217,670.0 | 52.11% | 1030.50% | 62.43% |
| Direct debits | 534.4 | 826.5 | 1,008.4 | 1,173.3 | 1,450.5 | 1,752.9 | 2,223.0 | 20.85% | 228.04% | 26.82% |
| Total | 24,351.5 | 32,657.6 | 40,628.1 | 64,195.5 | 104,129.3 | 150,115.1 | 234,830.2 | 44.16% | 516.45% | 43.87% |
| Total card payments per capita | 7.9 | 8.8 | 7.8 | 8.8 | 9.7 | 9.5 | 10.0 | -2.15% | 20.69% | 3.83% |
| Total cheques issued per capita | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | -7.66% | -42.77% | -10.56% |
| Total credit transfers per capita | 8.6 | 13.3 | 19.9 | 35.2 | 61.8 | 93.2 | 151.4 | 50.77% | 980.65% | 60.97% |
| Total direct debits per capita | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 19.79% | 213.57% | 25.68% |
| Total cashless payments per capita | 17.7 | 23.5 | 29.0 | 45.4 | 73.1 | 104.4 | 163.3 | 42.89% | 489.27% | 42.58% |
| Source: BIS. | ||||||||||
| 3 - Average Exchange Rates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| 1 EUR in INR | 80.73 | 78.84 | 84.64 | 87.44 | 82.69 | 89.30 |
| 1 USD in INR | 68.40 | 70.40 | 74.10 | 73.90 | 78.60 | 82.60 |
| Source: ECB, BIS. | ||||||
| 4 - Leading Card Issuers in India | ||
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Issuers | Issued Card Brands | Owned by |
| HDFC | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay, Diners | JP Morgan: 13.53%, SBI NIFTY 50 ETF: 5.80%, Others: 80.67% |
| SBI Card/SBI Bank | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay, Amex | State Bank of India: 68.63%, Others: 31.37% |
| ICICI Bank | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay, Amex | Deutsche Bank Trust Company: 19.58%, SBI mutual fund: 5.74%, Life Insurance Corporation of India: 5.64%, Others: 69.04% |
| Axis Bank | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | Life Insurance Corporation of India: 8.18%, ICICI Prudential AMC: 5.33%, SBI Mutual Fund: 5.0%, Others: 81.49% |
| Canara Bank | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | Government of India: 62.93%, Others: 37.07% |
| Source: Nilson report, PCM research | ||
| 5 - Leading Acquirers in India | ||
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Acquirers | Acceptance Brands offered | Owned by |
| SBI Payment Services | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | State Bank of India: 68.63%, Others: 31.37% |
| HDFC | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | JP Morgan: 13.53%, SBI NIFTY 50 ETF: 5.80%, Others: 80.67% |
| Axis Bank | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | Life Insurance Corporation of India: 8.18%, ICICI Prudential AMC: 5.33%, SBI Mutual Fund: 5.0%, Others: 81.49% |
| ICICI Merchant Services | Mastercard, VISA, RuPay | Fiserv Inc |
| Source: Nilson report, PCM research | ||
| 6 - ATMs and Cash Withdrawals in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| ATM Terminals with cash function | 221,703 | 221,848 | 233,066 | 244,787 | 256,520 | 257,901 | 259,289 | 0.54% | 16.33% | 3.07% |
| Ø Number of TXs per ATM per month | 3,710.6 | 3,601.0 | 2,228.2 | 2,245.1 | 2,247.6 | 2,183.7 | 2,121.7 | -2.84% | -41.15% | -10.06% |
| Number of ATM cash withdrawals (m) | 9,871.8 | 9,586.4 | 6,231.8 | 6,594.9 | 6,918.6 | 6,758.2 | 6,601.7 | -2.32% | -31.54% | -7.30% |
| - withdrawals on Indian cards (bn) | 9,869.4 | 9,583.9 | 6,228.8 | 6,592.7 | 6,917.0 | 6,756.3 | 6,599.4 | -2.32% | -31.54% | -7.30% |
| - withdrawals on foreign cards (m) | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 20.81% | -21.83% | -4.81% |
| Value of ATM cash withdrawals (INR bn) | 33,192.3 | 34,172.7 | 29,073.6 | 31,193.2 | 32,898.9 | 32,872.3 | 32,888.5 | -0.08% | -0.96% | -0.19% |
| - withdrawals on Indian cards (INR bn) | 33,153.2 | 34,135.6 | 29,052.3 | 31,177.4 | 32,886.4 | 32,857.2 | 32,871.8 | -0.09% | -0.89% | -0.18% |
| - withdrawals on foreign cards (INR bn) | 39.1 | 37.0 | 21.3 | 15.7 | 12.4 | 15.1 | 16.7 | 21.57% | -61.35% | -17.32% |
| ATV per ATM withdrawal (INR) | 3,362.32 | 3,564.71 | 4,665.39 | 4,729.87 | 4,755.15 | 4,864.03 | 5,236.82 | 2.29% | 44.66% | 7.66% |
| # ATM Terminals per 1m capita - India | 161.3 | 159.7 | 166.2 | 173.1 | 180.0 | 179.3 | 180.3 | -0.35% | 11.20% | 2.15% |
| Source: BIS. RBI | ||||||||||
| 7 - POS Terminals in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 3Y | CAGR 3Y | |
| POS terminals | 3,722,229 | 4,248,777 | 4,585,005 | 5,498,311 | 7,550,065 | 8,567,404 | 9,721,825 | 13.47% | 86.86% | 13.32% |
| Ø Number of TXs per POS per month | - | - | 56.4 | 53.3 | 43.7 | 41.5 | 39.5 | -4.96% | -26.38% | -5.94% |
| Number of POS payments (m) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3,103.85 | 3,519.57 | 3,959.38 | 4,269.99 | 4,604.96 | 7.84% | 37.57% | 6.59% |
| Value of POS payments (INR bn) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6,565.53 | 8,392.24 | 10,072.18 | 10,462.31 | 10,867.55 | 3.87% | 59.35% | 9.77% |
| ATV per POS payment (INR) | #DIV/0! | #DIV/0! | 2,115.29 | 2,384.45 | 2,543.88 | 2,450.20 | 2,359.97 | -3.68% | 15.83% | 2.98% |
| # POS Terminals per 1m capita - India | 2,707.7 | 3,058.8 | 3,268.9 | 3,887.9 | 5,296.7 | 5,957.6 | 6,760.3 | 12.48% | 82.25% | 12.75% |
| Source: BIS, RBI. | ||||||||||
| 8 - Mobile Payments in India | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Mobile Wallets (m) | 1,952 | 1,251 | 1,335 | 1,429 | 1,531 | 7.09% | -26.76% | -6.04% |
| Ø payments per e-money card per year | 11039575.5 | 34899004.9 | 54734268.0 | 78288825.8 | 111,979,944 | 43.03% | 609.17% | 47.96% |
| Number of Mobile Payments (m) - Mobile-app based | 21,545.2 | 43,662.1 | 73,051.9 | 111,898.3 | 171,401.9 | 53.18% | 419.36% | 39.03% |
| Value of Mobile Payments (INR bn) | 75,658.0 | 137,054.6 | 203,472.5 | 280,548.3 | 386,820.6 | 37.88% | 270.81% | 29.97% |
| Value per Transaction (INR) | 3,511.59 | 3,138.98 | 2,785.32 | 2,507.17 | 2,256.80 | -9.99% | -28.60% | -6.52% |
| Number of Internet Payments (m) - Internet Browser based | 3,449.4 | 4,063.2 | 4,265.1 | 4,389.0 | 4,516.45 | 2.90% | 27.24% | 4.94% |
| Value of Mobile Payments (INR bn) | 649,422.1 | 790,383.4 | 909,060.5 | 974,420.7 | 1,044,480.24 | 7.19% | 50.04% | 8.45% |
| Value per Transaction (INR) | 188,271.31 | 194,522.11 | 213,141.21 | 222,016.41 | 231,261.17 | 4.16% | 17.92% | 3.35% |
| Number of Payments via UPI (m) | 18,880.9 | 38,733.1 | 74,039.7 | 117,608.8 | 138,371.01 | 58.85% | 522.90% | 44.17% |
| Value of Payments via UPI (INR bn) | 33,877.5 | 71,576.1 | 125,944.9 | 182,876.3 | 265,542.71 | 45.20% | 439.82% | 40.10% |
| Value per Transaction (INR) | 1,794.27 | 1,847.93 | 1,701.05 | 1,554.96 | 1,421.41 | -8.59% | -13.34% | -2.82% |
| Source: RBI. | ||||||||
| 9 - Cards Issued in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (000s) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y |
| Cards with ATM (cash) function | 953,486 | 969,150 | 946,587 | 1,007,153 | 1,021,119 | 1,059,294 | 1,090,976 | 3.74% | 11.10% | 2.13% |
| Cards with a payment function | 953,486 | 969,150 | 946,587 | 1,007,153 | 1,021,119 | 1,059,294 | 1,045,102 | 3.74% | 11.10% | 2.13% |
| - Cards with a debit function | 905,813 | 923,396 | 885,660 | 937,742 | 939,466 | 960,881 | 938,978 | 2.28% | 6.08% | 1.19% |
| - Cards with a delayed debit function | 584 | 584 | 531 | 463 | 466 | 509 | 502 | 9.21% | -12.92% | -2.73% |
| - Cards with a credit function | 47,089 | 45,171 | 60,397 | 68,949 | 81,187 | 97,905 | 105,622 | 20.59% | 107.92% | 15.77% |
| Cards total | 953,486 | 969,150 | 946,587 | 1,007,153 | 1,021,119 | 1,059,294 | 1,045,102 | 3.74% | 11.10% | 2.13% |
| - Cards with e-money function | 115,053 | 100,975 | 166,270 | 260,090 | 288,805 | 325,133 | 938,978 | 12.58% | 182.59% | 23.09% |
| Payment cards per capita | 0.78 | 0.77 | 0.79 | 0.90 | 0.92 | 0.96 | 0.73 | 4.76% | 23.85% | 4.37% |
| Note: there are a few payment cards without cash function. | ||||||||||
| Source: BIS. | ||||||||||
| 10 - Payments with Indian Cards | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Cards with a payment function | 953,486 | 969,150 | 946,587 | 1,007,153 | 1,021,119 | 1,059,294 | 1,045,102 | 3.74% | 11.10% | 2.13% |
| Ø payments per card per year | 6.5 | 7.3 | 6.3 | 6.2 | 6.3 | 5.5 | 5782.4 | -11.94% | -14.64% | -3.12% |
| Ø payment value per card per year | ₹ 12,552 | ₹ 14,405 | ₹ 13,246 | ₹ 16,152 | ₹ 20,286 | ₹ 22,228 | €25,111.7 | 9.58% | 77.09% | 12.11% |
| Payments (m) | 6,176.9 | 7,039.9 | 5,952.7 | 6,243.2 | 6,412.0 | 5,857.5 | 6,043.2 | -8.65% | -5.17% | -1.06% |
| - with debit cards (m) | 4,414.3 | 4,953.2 | 4,159.2 | 4,086.8 | 3,644.6 | 2,525.6 | 2,258.7 | -30.70% | -42.79% | -10.57% |
| - with credit cards (m) | 1,762.6 | 2,086.7 | 1,793.5 | 2,156.4 | 2,767.4 | 3,332.0 | 3,784.5 | 20.40% | 89.04% | 13.58% |
| Value of payments (INR bn) | 11,968.23 | 13,960.78 | 12,538.03 | 16,267.18 | 20,714.35 | 23,546.40 | 26,244.27 | 13.67% | 96.74% | 14.49% |
| - with debit cards (INR bn) | 5,934.75 | 6,833.67 | 6,412.56 | 7,388.36 | 7,419.41 | 6,199.37 | 6,253.69 | -16.44% | 4.46% | 0.88% |
| - with credit cards (INR bn) | 6,033.48 | 7,127.11 | 6,125.47 | 8,878.82 | 13,294.94 | 17,347.03 | 19,990.58 | 30.48% | 187.51% | 23.52% |
| ATV per card payment | ₹ 1,937.59 | ₹ 1,983.09 | ₹ 2,106.28 | ₹ 2,605.58 | ₹ 3,230.56 | ₹ 4,019.84 | €4,342.75 | 24.43% | 107.47% | 15.71% |
| Source: BIS. | ||||||||||
| 11 - Card Payments Per Capita in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Debit card payments | 3.21 | 3.57 | 2.97 | 2.89 | 2.56 | 1.76 | 1.2 | -31.31% | -45.31% | -11.37% |
| Debit card value | ₹ 63.12 | ₹ 69.88 | ₹ 61.70 | ₹ 70.70 | ₹ 66.22 | ₹ 52.19 | ₹ 50.24 | -21.19% | -17.31% | -3.73% |
| Credit card payments | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 1.9 | 19.34% | 80.70% | 12.56% |
| Credit card value | ₹ 64.17 | ₹ 72.88 | ₹ 58.94 | ₹ 84.96 | ₹ 118.66 | ₹ 146.04 | ₹ 172.15 | 23.07% | 127.59% | 17.88% |
| Total card payments | 4.5 | 5.1 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 3.1 | -9.45% | -9.35% | -1.94% |
| Total card value | ₹ 127.29 | ₹ 142.77 | ₹ 120.63 | ₹ 155.65 | ₹ 184.89 | ₹ 198.23 | ₹ 222.39 | 7.22% | 55.73% | 9.26% |
| Source: calculated using BIS data, population figures and exchange rates. | ||||||||||
| 12 - Payments with Indian Debit Cards | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Debit Cards | 905,813 | 923,396 | 885,660 | 937,742 | 939,466 | 960,881 | 938,978 | 2.28% | 6.08% | 1.19% |
| Ø payments per debit card per year | 4.9 | 5.4 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 3.9 | 2.6 | 2.4 | -32.25% | -46.07% | -11.62% |
| Ø payments value (INR) per debit card per year | 6,551.8 | 7,400.6 | 7,240.4 | 7,878.9 | 7,897.5 | 6,451.8 | 6,660.1 | -18.31% | -1.53% | -0.31% |
| Payments (m) | 4,414.28 | 4,953.18 | 4,159.22 | 4,086.78 | 3,644.60 | 2,525.56 | 2,258.70 | -30.70% | -42.79% | -10.57% |
| Value of payments (INR bn) | 5,934.75 | 6,833.67 | 6,412.56 | 7,388.36 | 7,419.41 | 6,199.37 | 6,253.69 | -16.44% | 4.46% | 0.88% |
| ATV per debit card payment (INR) | 1,344.44 | 1,379.65 | 1,541.77 | 1,807.87 | 2,035.73 | 2,454.65 | 2,768.72 | 20.58% | 82.58% | 12.79% |
| Total debit card payments per capita | 3.2 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 1.6 | -31.31% | -45.31% | -11.37% |
| Total debit card value per capita (INR) | 4,317.2 | 4,919.7 | 4,571.8 | 5,224.4 | 5,205.1 | 4,310.9 | 4,348.7 | -17.18% | -0.15% | -0.03% |
| Source: RBI, BIS. | ||||||||||
| 13 - Payments with Indian Credit Cards | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Credit Cards | 47,089 | 45,171 | 60,397 | 68,949 | 81,187 | 97,905 | 105,622 | 20.59% | 107.92% | 15.77% |
| Ø payments per credit card per year | 37.4 | 46.2 | 29.7 | 31.3 | 34.1 | 34.0 | 35.8 | -0.16% | -9.08% | -1.89% |
| Ø payments value (INR) per credit card per year | 128,130.3 | 157,780.8 | 101,420.1 | 128,774.3 | 163,757.2 | 177,182.9 | 189,265.3 | 8.20% | 38.28% | 6.70% |
| Payments (m) | 1,762.59 | 2,086.72 | 1,793.46 | 2,156.43 | 2,767.40 | 3,331.98 | 3,784.54 | 20.40% | 89.04% | 13.58% |
| Value of payments (INR bn) | 6,033.48 | 7,127.11 | 6,125.47 | 8,878.82 | 13,294.94 | 17,347.03 | 19,990.58 | 30.48% | 187.51% | 23.52% |
| ATV per credit card payment (INR) | 3,423.08 | 3,415.46 | 3,415.45 | 4,117.38 | 4,804.12 | 5,206.22 | 5,282.17 | 8.37% | 52.09% | 8.75% |
| Total credit card payments per capita | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 27.32% | 80.70% | 12.56% |
| Total credit card payments value per capita (INR) | 4,389.1 | 5,131.0 | 4,367.2 | 6,278.3 | 9,327.0 | 12,062.7 | 13,901.0 | 48.56% | 174.84% | 22.41% |
| Source: RBI, BIS. | ||||||||||
| 14 - E-Money in India | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024F | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| - Cards with e-money function | 115,053 | 100,975 | 166,270 | 260,090 | 288,805 | 325,133 | 366,031 | 12.58% | 182.59% | 23.09% |
| Ø payments per e-money card per year | 40019.1 | 51225.4 | 29817.4 | 23843.7 | 25654.0 | 23934.4 | 22,330 | -6.70% | -40.19% | -9.77% |
| Number of E-Money Payments (m) | 4,604.3 | 5,172.5 | 4,957.7 | 6,201.5 | 7,409.0 | 7,781.9 | 8,173.5 | 5.03% | 69.01% | 11.07% |
| Value of E-Money Payments (INR bn) | 2,128.8 | 2,207.7 | 1,895.5 | 2,650.4 | 2,928.7 | 2,839.7 | 2,753.5 | -3.04% | 33.40% | 5.93% |
| Value per Transaction (INR) | 462.34 | 426.82 | 382.34 | 427.38 | 395.28 | 364.91 | 336.87 | -7.68% | -21.07% | -4.62% |
| Source: BIS. | ||||||||||