India’s Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has unveiled “ Har Payment Digital” [Every Payment Digital] as part of Digital Payments Awareness Week (DPAW) 2023 to make every person in India a user of digital payments.
While rolling out the mission, Governor Shaktikanta Das appealed to all the stakeholders – banks, non-banks, payment system operators, and digital payment users, among others – to adopt digital payments and teach others about the merits of using digital payments.
He said the campaign reinforces RBI’s commitment to deepen digital payments in the country. “India’s payment systems are talked about globally and several countries have shown interest to replicate India’s success story,” he said.
Stating that payment systems in India have witnessed over 1000 crore transactions every month since December 2022, he said “This speaks volumes of the robustness of our payments ecosystem and acceptance by consumers.”
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Mr. Das said UPI has emerged as the most popular and preferred payment mode in India pioneering Person-to-Person (P2P) as well as Person to Merchant (P2M) transactions in India accounting for 75% of the total digital payments.
The volume of UPI transactions has increased multi-fold from 0.45 crore in January 2017 to 804 crore in January 2023. The value of UPI transactions has increased from just ₹1,700 crore to ₹12.98 lakh crore during the same period.
He said steps have been taken for internationalisation of India’s payment systems and the convenience of digital payments would facilitate onboarding of new consumers into the digital fold.
“Various campaigns highlighting the digital payment channels available are being planned by the banks and non- bank payment system operators. This will further encourage and support the adoption of digital payments in the country,” he said.
Stating that customer satisfaction would lead to furthering digital payments, he said “The message is in sync with the Payments Vision 2025 of the RBI, i.e. “E- Payments for Everyone, Everywhere, Everytime”.
He said RBI has also decided to initiate a 75 Digital Villages programme through adoption of 75 villages and involvement of village level entrepreneurs.
“Under this programme and in observance of 75 years of independence, PSOs will adopt 75 villages across the country and convert them into digital payment-enabled villages. They will conduct two camps in each of these villages to enhance awareness and onboard merchants in the village for digital payments,” he added.
