New Delhi : Almost a year down the line, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of making India a cash-less or less-cash country becoming a reality? Industry stakeholders feel that though the note-ban drive by the government gave the necessary impetus to citizens to start adopting online payment platforms, a lot needs to be done by both the government and the industry to make it a success.
The adoption rate of online platforms was high during the demonetisation period, but it plateaued out as soon as cash became available in the system. When the the Modi government banned high denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8 last year, removing an overwhelming amount of cash from the economy, people had to willy-nilly fall back on plastic or online transactions.
“The fact that 86 per cent of the cash available in the system was sucked out overnight gave an immediate boost to online/mobile payment platforms. There was a push-up factor,” Vishwas Patel, co-chair, Payments Council of India (PCI) and founder and CEO of CC Avenues, told IANS. But once cash was back in circulation, those who earlier dealt mostly in cash went back to doing so, he said.
The PCI was formed under the aegis of Internet and Mobile Association of India in 2013 to cater to the needs of the digital payment industry. He said during November, December 2016 and January 2017, online transactions were at their peak. In October 2016, debit card transactions stood at Rs 21,941 crore and those of credit cards at Rs 29,942 crore.
Waning effect
