The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has said that digital transactions worth Rs 7,422 crore have been conducted in the current fiscal (FY22), as of February 28. That’s 33% a jump from the whole of FY21, when digital transactions worth Rs 5,554 crore were conducted. In the FY19 that number was Rs 3,134 crore.
“Digital payment transactions have been steadily increasing over the past few years, as a part of Government of India’s strategy to digitise the financial sector and economy… Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken various steps to enhance security of digital transactions and reduce fraud,” the ministry said.
MeitY also touched upon the growth of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), calling it the “preferred payment mode of citizens”. It said UPI has clocked 452.75 crore transactions worth Rs 8.27 lakh crore in FY22 (as of February 28).
“Covid-19 pandemic has established that digital payments enable access to healthcare as well through contactless payment modes like BHIM-UPI QR codes in consonance with the ‘new normal’ of social distancing,” added MeitY.
MeitY also said it has undertaken several initiatives to create awareness of digital payments in remote parts of the country to boost India’s digital economy.
“MeitY has undertaken ‘Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan’ (PMGDISHA) to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering six crore rural households (one person per household) by March 31, 2023. MeitY advised all banks and payment service providers to undertake awareness campaigns for promotion of secure payment practices and generate information security awareness,” the ministry added.