Digital payments ecosystem
Digital payments are a key rubric of the “Faceless, Paperless, and Cashless” objective of the Digital India campaign. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), founded as an initiative by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association, provides the crucial infrastructure for several payment systems. Key modes of digital payment transactions in India facilitated by NPCI, RBI, and banks include Bharat Interface for Money-Unified Payments Interface (BHIM-UPI); Immediate Payment Service (IMPS); pre-paid payment instruments (PPIs) and National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) system in addition to pre-existing payment modes such as debit cards, credit cards, National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS).RuPay was introduced as the domestic alternative to Mastercard, Visa, and UnionPay. The latter was also part of the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) that aims at introducing digital payments and financial services to the largely unbanked sections of society. BHIM-UPI has emerged as the key mode of digital payment among the Indian population.
The ongoing trend in digital payments and investments in FinTech innovations resulted in a highly competitive market, especially in the e-wallet segment. Paytm, Amazon Pay and Pay Pal have emerged as popular fintech companies in the digital payment segment. These fintechs are slowly moving towards localizing their product by providing services in multiple Indian languages.