According to a whitepaper released by Visa and Worldline India, the contribution of contactless payments to total face-to-face (F2F) transactions increased more than six times to 16% in December 2021, from 2.5% in December 2018.
The whitepaper, ‘India Taps into a Contactless Future’, analyzes India’s journey with digital payments infrastructure and contactless payments, highlighting the rapidly growing adoption across sectors and regions.
According to the paper, low-touch payments in stores ensured consumer safety, which has been a necessity since the pandemic.
Additionally, the adoption of EMV chip cards has been instrumental to the growth of contactless payments, aided by subsidiary regulations, which increased the contactless limit in India. 5,000 in 2021.
The whitepaper also highlighted that the highest adoption of contactless payments was seen in sectors such as quick-service restaurants, pharmacies, dining, grocery, etc., which intensified with the impact of the pandemic.
According to Worldline India, while 25% of all transactions in supermarkets were contactless in January 2020, these transactions increased to 31% by January 2022.
User footprint across India also increased with metro cities. In 2020 and 2021, Delhi-NCR, Karnataka, Gujarat and Telangana had the highest proportion of contactless transactions and penetration in both debit and credit cards.
Meanwhile, the Worldline India Digital Payments Report 2021 has shown that while cards contribute to 26% of all digital transactions, they generate 53% of the value of all digital commerce.
Ramakrishnan Gopalan, Vice President, Head of Products and Solutions, India and South Asia, Visa, said, “The rapid adoption of contactless payments over the past few years is a testimony to the increase in acceptance of secure and faster forms of cashless payments for consumers. Segment. We have seen that the key drivers of contactless growth – availability, convenience, usability and security – will continue to aid mass adoption as contactless cards become ubiquitous. We are confident that this will lead to seamless face-to-face transactions. It is a sustainable payment solution and will go a long way in reaching the goal of a less cash less society.”
According to the paper, contactless payments can result in frequent purchases, customer stickiness and financial inclusion through cards, which are a familiar means for most consumers today.
Sunil Rongala, Senior Vice President, Strategy, Innovation & Analytics, Worldline India said, “Contactless payment methods have shifted from an option to a necessity in the recent past, supported with the increase in transaction volume over the last three years. Yes, we see. The immense potential of contactless to help digitize the merchant ecosystem. With increasing merchant acceptance of contactless cards, not only in metro cities but also in non-metro cities, we expect contactless payments to be a major driver of digital payments in the future.”