India continues to make steady progress toward becoming a “less cash society.” As expected, cash has recently enjoyed a revival, but this re-monetization is likely to peak out and a new post-demonetization normal for the GDP-to-cash ratio will soon be found. This is consistent with the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) recent policy decision to limit printing of replacement notes for those withdrawn from circulation last November. The breadth with which digital payment alternatives are emerging and being embraced also signals a larger trend away from cash. This issue of the India Demonetization Monitor examines the sectors that are making the fastest progress to digital payments.
Visa’s Digital Payments Tracker for India has declined relative to other developing electronic payments markets as cash returned to the economy in recent months.
However, the metrics of digital enablement in Visa’s Tracker have continued to expand, confirming that important behavioural changes are occurring in how Indian’s spend and transact on a daily basis.
The breadth of sectors and frequency of digital transactions reveals that behaviours surrounding cash and digital payments are evolving in the direction the demonetization policy sought.
Download India Demonetization Monitor
Tracking India's development as a digital payments market
(Indexed based on five key economic indicators*)
*Indicators provided in PDF document.
India Demonetization Monitor and Digital Payments Tracker
Visa’s India Demonetization Monitor is a quarterly publication that follows India’s move to a “less cash” society, aiming to capture the tipping point when consumers are digitally-enabled and primed for a more dynamic payments infrastructure and economy. The newsletter includes a composite index of five key industry and economic indicators that track India’s progress as a digital payments market relative to other economies where digital payments are either still developing or already taking off.
Sources: Visa Business and Economic Insights analysis of industry data, including Haver Analytics.
