Mobile Banking on Spree But Decline in E-wallets Transactions

Narendra Modi, also known as the inventor of digitization drive, seems to have taken the rein of Indian economy very well. With his moves, he has spurred the era of the digital economy. But sad news unfolds that though the mobile banking is getting spicier, mobile wallets are showing a dip. Let’s have a look at data!

The numbers say so

The statistics reveal that the mobile banking for the month of April (106.27 million), May (114.26 million) and June (115.73 million) showed a steady increase. However, the prepaid instruments like prepaid cards and mobile wallets witnessed a steady decline.

What’s the reason behind this decline?

The experts quote that with the implementation of GST, the rumor mills were abuzz that the payments made through the credit cards and debit card will be taxed more. Hence, people started favoring cash transactions. Though the demonetization move increased the availability of PoS machines, ATM’s and mobile wallets, but it was not able to trigger the increase in number of transactions. A cursory look at the data is sufficient to understand this. Mobile transactions saw a dip from 70 million transactions in December 2016 to 55 million transactions in 2017. Wallet transactions also declined by 20 percent.

The reason cited was the launch of demonetization move that created ripples in the Indian economy and people started using card payments, digital wallets and online transactions to cope with the unfavorable situation. But, with the constant availability of cash, it seems the traumatic situation has ended. The ready availability of cash has put the digital payment into a hibernation mode.

BV Chandrashekhar, a financial analyst, working with reputed stock broking firm has concluded that

“People have already started using cash for all transactions and ditched the card payments.”

So, what do you think Narendra’s Modi digitization dream was short-lived or will it gain a momentum? Do respond us in the comment section below.