DIGITAL PAYMENTS SEE A FALL IN MAY

Cash withdrawals through ATMS, transactions via NEFT and RTGS witness a fall

Transactions through Unified Payments Interface, the National Payments Corporation of India’s flagship payments platform, fell in May. This is the second consecutive month of decline in digital payment transactions.

Transactions through Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI’S) flagship payments platform, have seen a drop in May.

This marks the second consecutive month of decline in digital payment transactions, due to a slowdown in economic activity because of lockdowns in various parts of the country.

In May, in terms of volume, UPI processed 2.53 billion transactions, down 4 per cent and 7 per cent compared to April and March, respectively.

In value terms, UPI saw transactions worth ~4.9 trillion in May, down 0.66 per cent and 3 per cent from April and March, respectively.

In March, UPI had recorded 2.73 billion transactions amounting to ~5.04 trillion, the highest ever since its inception in 2017. Since then, both volume and value of transactions have dipped, in sync with the rise in Covid infections in the country and the lockdowns.

Last year, during the nationwide lockdown, imposed to curb spread of the virus, digital payment transactions had seen a fall, both in volume and value terms.

However, they recovered soon after as the economy started opening up. This year, however, the fall seen in volume and value of digital payment transactions is not as bad as it was last year.

Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) recorded a 13.34 per cent drop in transactions in May as the volume fell to 279.8 million.

Value of transactions went down 11 per cent month-onmonth in May to ~2.66 trillion.

Among digital payment platforms, FASTAG has seen the maximum impact of the localised lockdowns in place to curb the devastating impact of the second wave.

In May, FASTAG recorded 116.4 million transactions, down 29 per cent and 39 per cent from April and March, respectively. Similarly, in terms of value, transactions worth ~2,125 crore were processed in May, down 23 per cent and 31 per cent from April and March, respectively.