Digital payments grew significantly at 13.24% in FY23, shows RBI index

Digital payments grew significantly in FY23, data from a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) index for digitisation of payments showed. The Reserve Bank of India – Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) showed that the index for March 2023 stood at 395.58 as against 377.46 for September 2022, which was announced on January 31 -- a growth of 13.24 per cent. 

“The RBI-DPI index has increased across all parameters driven by significant growth in payment infrastructure and payment performance across the country over the period,” it said. 

The base index for March 2018 was 100, which continued to continuously increase from thereon. 

The RBI-DPI for March 2022 was 349.30. It was 270.59 in March 2021, and 304.06 for September 2021. 

The RBI constructed the DPI as part of the sixth bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2019-20 to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country. 

The index comprises five broad parameters including payment enablers, payment infrastructure – demand side factors, payment infrastructure – supply side factors, payment performance, and consumer centricity. Each of these parameters consists of various measurable indicators. 

RBI-DPI is published on a semi-annual basis with a lag of four months. 

Meanwhile, a recent PwC India report stated that Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions are expected to reach 1 billion transactions per day by 2026-27. UPI has been instrumental in driving digital payments in India, and accounts for approximately 75 per cent of the total transaction volume in the retail segment during the period of 2022-23.

Also read: UPI transactions expected to account for 90% of retail digital payments by 2026-27: Report

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