E-transactions plummet in April

Digital payments nosedived in April, as economic activity came to a near standstill because of the nationwide lockdown, data released by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) indicated.

The value of IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) transactions in April fell to about ~1.21 trillion in April, from about ~2.02 trillion in March. The transaction count was 122.5 million in April, from 216.8 million in March, NPCI declared on Twitter and Facebook. In February, before the l ockdown began, the IMPS counter had witnessed about ~2.15 trillion worth of value in 247.8 million transactions.

The IMPS is typically used for transactions up to ~50,000. The drop in such payments, 43.72 per cent compared with February and 40 per cent since March, indicates a huge contraction in economic activities.

Similarly, transactions through BHIM and UPI (Unified Payments System) fell 26.7 per cent to ~1.51 trillion, from ~2.06 trillion in March. The number of transactions fell from 1.25 billion in March to 990 million in April. In comparison, February witnessed 1.33 billion transactions for a total volume of ~2.23 trillion.

As vehicles remained off the roads, toll collection plummeted. The transaction volume fell to ~247.58 crore in April for about 10 million transactions, from ~1,421.01 crore in March through 84.5 million transactions. This is a steep 82.58 per cent drop in value.

Bharat Billpay saw a relatively smaller fall in value. Its total transactions fell to ~1,371.17 crore, from ~1,953.99 crore in March. The number of transactions in April fell to 12.77 million, from 15.84 million in February. However, the number of live billers saw an increase to 190, from 182 in March and 176 in February.

The only segment that saw a rise i n payments was Aadhaar-based biometric payments (AEP S). The volume in April was ~14,708.76 crore through 411.5 million transactions, from ~10,170.31 crore in March through 181.8 million transactions, NP CI data showed. This could be because Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26 introduced a relief package for the informal sector, which was a combination of cash and food assistance using Aadhar-based biometric validation.