Digital transactions show signs of rising GAINING CURRENCY
Digital transactions are showing some stickiness, as indicated by the representative data of a select few large banks, published daily with a lag of a week, and by the transactions published with a twomonth lag.
Digital transactions peaked in December 2016, just after demonetisation was announced. Since then, transactions seem to have come down a lit- tle. However, compared with the pre-demonetisation period, digital transactions have taken off substantially.
For this analysis, Business Standard took a look at some key indicators — Immediate Payments Service (IMPS), which allows payments on a real-time basis through computers or mobile phones; card (debit and credit) usage at point-of-sale (PoS) machines; mobile wallets and mobile banking. All banks’ data for these were available only till May. Electronic Payment Systems — Representative data (updated as on July 11, 2017) — volume in million Nov ‘16 Dec ‘16 Jan ‘17 Feb ‘17 Mar ‘17 Apr ‘17 May ‘17 Jun ‘17 36.2 52.8 0.3 2.0
However, the representative data for a select few banks also indicated that digital transactions have increased from the level seen 205.5 311.0 265.5 72.3 70.2 64.9 before demonetisation, announced on November 8. This is a good indicator of stickiness in digital transactions.
The total value of IMPS transactions in September 2016 was at ~28,912 crore. In May, the figure was ~58,559 crore, a growth of 102.5 per cent. Similarly, card transactions at PoS in the period increased 135.4 per cent to ~37,508 crore. Mobile wallets increased 125 per cent to ~7,194 crore, while mobile banking rose 104.6 per cent to ~2,13,307 crore in May 2017, from September 2016.
The same trend was visible using daily representative data, if the pre-demonetisation period was considered. State Bank of India’s Group Economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh said comparing data with that of December would be wrong and the actual comparison should be done from the predemonetisation period.
Comparing the daily data to come to a conclusion is “grossly unfair” as it is a “sample representative of the banking industry and not the whole industry data to decipher progress in digitisation,” Ghosh said in a report. Professional services firm Deloitte is set to merge the lucrative tax practice of boutique advisory firm BMR Advisors with itself. This follows intense negotiations over the past two-three weeks between three possible suitors that also included two of the other ‘Big Four’ firms, KPMG and PwC. BMR’s M&A and risk advisory practices are likely to be picked up by KPMG.
When reached for comment, BMR Advisors said it would make a formal announcement on Tuesday.
Sources said Deloitte on Monday internally informed its employees of the impending acquisition of BMR’s tax practice, which includes both direct and indirect taxes.
With BMR’s tax practice in its fold — estimated to be valued at ~120-150 crore — Deloitte will move up the pecking order when it comes