A huge 93 per cent Indians have used digital payments in the last year, the highest in the Asia Pacific region, and over 50 per cent of these involved QR codes or digital money transfer apps, a new global survey by Mastercard has revealed.
Mastercard’s second annual New Payments Index (NPI) survey involved 35,040 respondents in 40 markets across five regions, including 7,004 in the seven nations in the Asia Pacific region. These seven are: India, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam.
According to the survey, Indians are the most willing in the Asia Pacific region to embrace digital payment methods. About 96 per cent are likely to use a digital payment method in the next year.
The survey further revealed that fewer Indians are using cash now, and even a lesser number are using other forms of credit, such as credit or prepaid or even debit cards.
“Cash came third with a 51 per cent adoption, while conventional methods, such as in-person credit, debit, or pre-paid cards or contactless cards saw even lesser adoption in comparison to cash,” the survey said.
About 37 per cent of those surveyed were Gen-Z (ages 18-25 years), 48 per cent were millennials (ages 26-43 years), with the rest being older.
According to the survey, Indian consumers use a variety of digital methods for their purchases. Digital payments for online marketplace purchases tops the list at 56 per cent. About 48 per cent of respondents claimed to have made a mobile app purchase, while about 55 per cent said they have used a payment method exclusive to a particular business, such as loyalty points or store credits, the survey said.
Anubhav Gupta, senior vice president and customer solutions lead, South Asia, Mastercard, said, “India is a leading market in Asia Pacific in ensuring consumer comfort with payment methods, such as wearables, mobile wallets, OR codes and debit and credit cards. Awareness is growing among stakeholders in the ecosystem – government, regulators, banks, and fintech players. This augers well for the future of Digital India.”
According to the survey, security has been cited as the most important factor behind using QR Code as a digital payment method over other methods, such as cards. Consumers perceive it to be as secure as traditional payment methods, such as cash.
Cash Still A ‘Very’ Secure Payment Method
The survey revealed that 76 per cent Indians considered cash as a safer payment method. Of this, 82 per cent belonged to the middle age group (44-57 years). A similar 76 per cent also believed that using a QR code to make a payment was just as secure as using cash.
“About 73 per cent think that using a digital money transfer service is secure, while 76 per cent of millennials consider card swipes to be secure,” the survey said.
BNPL Awareness High, But Comfort Trends Low
About 86 per cent Indians were aware of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), but with relatively low knowledge on the subject. That said, only 58 per cent were comfortable using it as of today. About 53 per cent, however, agreed that they would more likely use BNPL for large/emergency purchases, while about 75 per cent said they would feel safer using a BNPL solution backed by a major payment network than from other providers, the survey said.
Consumers Use Fintech To Organise Bill Payments
When it came to managing financial tasks, 90 per cent of Indian consumers used digital tools for at least one financial task, the findings revealed.
About two-thirds (62 percent) said that making a payment was the most beneficial use case for linking their bank accounts, while a larger number (84 per cent) said they had connected their bank account to other platforms to pay bills.
“Consumers rely on digital channels to pay bills because it is more convenient and optimises financial management,” the survey said.
