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In January 2022, transactions worth over *** billion Indian rupees were made through debit cards in India. This was a significant increase compared to transactions worth over *** billion rupees during May 2020 in the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

India’s debit card market

In India, credit and debit cards came in vogue only after the market liberalizations of the 1990s and the diversification of the banking sector. Around ** public, private, and foreign banks as well as numerous smaller cooperative banks were operating in 2020. At that time, India had by far taken the lead in terms of debit cards in use worldwide, with over *** million cards. Nevertheless, Indians seemed to use their debit cards primarily for smaller amounts. When it came to the average transaction value, credit cards were used for larger sums of money.

Other digital payment methods on the rise

Digital payments increased significantly in recent years, both in numbers as well as in value. This development was closely observed by the Reserve Bank of India, which not only regulated the already existing payment methods, but also encouraged the implementation of domestic options through its subsidiary National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Among the digital payment options in the country, the card scheme RuPay and the USSD service *99# are popular. However, the most successful product is without doubt the interbank payment system Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for sending and receiving money.