Over 65,000 crore digital transactions were recorded in India between FY20 and FY25, amounting to more than ₹12,000 lakh crore, the government informed Parliament on Monday.
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, said the government has been working closely with stakeholders including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), fintech companies, banks, and state governments to boost digital payment adoption, particularly in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
To further this effort, the RBI launched the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) in 2021 to incentivise the deployment of digital payment acceptance infrastructure in Tier-3 to Tier-6 cities, the northeastern states, and Jammu & Kashmir.
As of May 31, 2025, around 4.77 crore digital touchpoints had been deployed under the PIDF initiative.
To track the growth of digital payments, the RBI developed the Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI), which measures the extent of digitisation across the country. The index stood at 465.33 as of September 2024, indicating sustained growth in adoption, infrastructure, and overall performance.
Chaudhary noted that platforms like UPI have empowered citizens—including small vendors and rural users—to accept digital payments, thereby reducing reliance on cash and bringing more people into the formal financial ecosystem.
Access to formal credit has also improved as a result of digital financial footprints, boosting economic participation and inclusion.
To support small businesses and MSMEs, the government, RBI and NPCI have launched several initiatives over the years. These include rationalising the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on debit card transactions, issuing TReDS guidelines to allow MSMEs to get competitive invoice discounts, and rolling out incentive schemes to encourage low-value BHIM-UPI transactions among small merchants.
The growing penetration of digital payments has played a transformative role in expanding financial services access, especially among underserved and previously excluded populations, the minister added.
IANS