NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, July 28, 2016

NEW DELHI: In the next seven years, cashless or digital transactions will overtake cash transactions in India — the world’s fastest-growing internet economy — which hopes to add over 300 million internet users by 2020.

According to a report by Boston Consulting Group and Google, non-cash transactions will grow from the current 22% to 40% in 2020, and to 59% by 2025. “Mobile wallets will play a key role,” said Vikas Agnihotri, industry director, Google India.

To put things into perspective, cash in circulation in India is 18% of the country’s GDP. The figure is 3.5% to 8% for developed countries such as the US and the UK.

Wallets have burgeoned in recent times, with cellphones becoming an alternate for cash. A number of mobile wallet companies, including Mobikwik, Paytm, Freecharge, Itzcash and Suvidha, have sprung up, and there are currently 80-85 million active mobile wallet sin the country. In 2015-16, the number of wallets and pre-paid card transactions stood at 747 million, a 147% growth over the previous fiscal. The total value of transactions was ₹46,200 crore, with the average transaction being ₹618.