Among the modes of retail digital payments that got a push from demonetization, the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) has been the most successful in keeping up the pace. According to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the volume of IMPS transactions rose 86 per cent year-on-year to 98 million, and the aggregate transaction value rose 102 per cent to Rs 87,106 crore.
While the growth seen in the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) channel was several times higher – transaction volumes jumped 74 times between December 2016 and December 2017 – the channel came into existence much after IMPS.
Most other modes too grew in volumes, with card payments being the only outlier. Volume of credit and debit card transactions at point-of-sale (PoS) machines fell 4.4 per cent year-on-year to 414 million, even as the value of transactions rose 11.6 per cent to Rs 82,311 crore.
Prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), comprised mainly of mobile wallets and prepaid cards, saw transaction volumes rise 22.5 per cent year-on-year to 320 million in December 2017. The value of transactions rose 47 per cent year-on-year to Rs 14,334 crore.
The volume of National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) transactions rose a mere 1.6 per cent year-on-year to 169 million in December 2017, while the value of transactions rose 37 per cent to Rs 15.78 lakh crore between December 2016 and December 2017.
