Digital Payments Record 40% Annual Growth At September-End 2021: RBI

Digital payments across the country registered a growth of nearly 40 per cent in a year through September 2021, as per the RBI's latest index that measures the adoption of online transactions.

 The newly constituted RBI's digital payment index (RBI-DPI) stood at 304.06 during September 2021 as against 270.59 in March 2021 and 217.74 in September 2020.

 “The RBI-DPI Index continues to demonstrate significant growth in adoption and deepening of digital payments across the country,” the RBI said in a statement on Wednesday.

 The Reserve Bank had announced the construction of a composite Reserve Bank of India – Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) with March 2018 as a base to capture the extent of digitisation of payments across the country.

 The RBI-DPI comprises 5 broad parameters that enable measurement of deepening and penetration of digital payments in the country over different periods.

 These parameters are Payment Enablers (weight 25 per cent); Payment Infrastructure – Demand-side factors (10 per cent); Payment Infrastructure – Supply-side factors (15 per cent); Payment Performance (45 per cent); and Consumer Centricity (5 per cent).

 The index is published on a semi-annual basis from March 2021 onwards with a lag of 4 months.