The coronavirus pandemic has forced people to stay indoors and follow social distancing. Countries across the globe are grappling to eliminate the deadly virus. While businesses across various sectors are staggering under the cascading effects of the pandemic, there is a sector which is experiencing a surge in usage – digital payments.
Among numerous precautionary measures, the crisis is also prompting the usage of contactless forms of payment. Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, even the RBI has urged customers to use digital banking facilities. Sectors like small grocery stores, online gaming, OTT, e-learning, broadband usage saw a boost during the lockdown, driving the usage of digital payments.
India Transact Services conducted a survey to study and analyse the usage trends of various digital payment modes and the increasing digital channel adoption among consumers of varied age groups amid Covid-19. The survey got maximum participation from millennials, the ones in the age group 18-25 years, followed by age group 31-40 years, 26-30 years and so on. 57% of respondents said that they used digital payments 5-6 times a week followed by 21% people who claimed to use it 3 times a week and 20% people used it less than 3 times a week.
Failed transactions followed by frauds and internet connectivity are some of the major concerns people have while using digital payments. A majority of 76% of respondents stated that they would be willing to use digital payments because of better rewards in the form of incentives, discounts and cashback.
Among the different modes of digital payments available to the consumers -UPI/BHIM, Tap & Pay on PoS terminal via credit/debit, E-wallets, QR Code, Payment Gateway, SMS Based Payments and Prepaid Cards, UPI based payments were found most popular among people with approximately 80% of the respondents being aware of it. Awareness about net banking as a mode of payments is quite high as well with 71% of people agreeing to know about it.
Speaking about the results of the survey, Sunil Khosla, President – Digital Business India Transact Services Limited said, “The survey has been helpful in finding out the different modes of digital payments people have been using during the lockdown and will continue to use post lockdown. While it will take time for normalcy to resume, people will continue using contactless payments. The lockdown has also brought many people who were not very tech-savvy and much aware of digital payments closer to the ecosystem.”
“The anxiety and fear of virus spread is taking a toll on everyone and people are taking all possible precautionary measures to stay safe, digital payments being one of them.Among other things, the survey has also revealed that 70% people feel there has been an increase in the number of digital transactions because of COVID-19″, he added.