Not just metros, digital payments surge in Tier 3-6 cities too

NEW DELHI: More than 40 per cent of consumers in Tier 3 to 6 cities use digital payment every day, while 45 per cent use it once in two days, a new survey report has said.

The report by Chase India on The State of Digital Payments in India, which looked at the key challenges faced by merchants and consumers in the adoption of digital payment services at the grassroots level, said nearly half of the merchants who are not using digital payments in rural India are unaware of the service.

In contrast, a staggering 94 per cent of consumers who are not using digital payments are aware of it but still do not use it, as they face issues like lack of internet connectivity, limited knowledge, mistrust in online payments, and service-related problems.

The report added that around 74 per cent of consumers claimed to be using digital payment services for a transaction a family member made.

Around 41 per cent of merchants claimed to receive less than 25 per cent of their sales through digital payments, while around 15 per cent of merchants claimed to receive over 50 per cent of their sales through digital payments. "This shows the potential left to be tapped with respect to increasing the usage of digital payments at the grassroots level," the report said.

The report also said that lack of awareness about digital payments was a crucial finding. Around 46 per cent of merchants had never used digital payments because they were unaware of it. The survey revealed that, on average, around 36 per cent of merchants claimed to be processing over 50 digital payment transactions every month. Also, around 23 per cent of merchants claimed to be processing not more than one digital payment transaction every alternate day.

Most merchants process digital payment transactions of less than Rs 15,000 every month. Only a handful of merchants claimed to process digital payments of over Rs 1 lakh.