Propelling India’s Digital Payments Revolution to Usher Financial Empowerment

India’s digital payments sector is thriving, enabling the country to leapfrog from a cash-centric economy to a “Digitally Empowered Economy”. Having one of the largest payment ecosystems in the world and a flourishing digital economy, India is poised to become a $5 trillion economy by 2025¹, with digital payments reaching 1.5 billion transactions a day by that year².

Even though cash remains the dominant mode of transaction, digital payments are witnessing a massive year-on-year growth. A bouquet of e-payment modes, including Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC), Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), and Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) among others, are fortifying India’s payment ecosystem. UPI, instant real-time payment system, hit a record high of 2.8 billion transactions in June 2021³, according to data released by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), fast-tracking the growth of India’s digital economy.

The digital-first push by the Government and a mission to usher “Faceless, Paperless, Cashless” economy under the robust Digital India programme coupled with increasing smartphone ownership, growing internet user base, entry of fintech players, and technological innovations are powering India’s digital payment revolution. This in turn, is immensely benefitting citizens, giving them easy, safe, and reliable access to multiple digital payment options that enhances their overall Quality of Life.

Driving Increased Penetration of Acceptance Infrastructure

For India to emerge as a truly cashless economy, a robust digital payment infrastructure is needed that percolates down to the remotest corners of India, enabling the country to achieve its financial inclusion vision.

Despite remarkable growth in digital payment methods, India still faces an inadequate acceptance infrastructure with small merchants hesitant to adopt Point of Sale (POS) terminals on account of high cost, connectivity issues, and lack of awareness. Compared to other emerging economies, India has a very high density of population per POS terminal - 1 for every 358 people⁵ - indicating a huge potential for growth of POS terminals in the country.

To scale up the acceptance ecosystem, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Government of India have rolled out several schemes and subsidies to give a fillip to acceptance infrastructure across the country.

Besides favorable regulatory norms, innovation in technology is also enabling banks and merchant aggregators to further drive merchant acceptance of digital payments and provide customers with convenient and secure digital payment modes.

As a leading player in India’s financial ecosystem, Hitachi Payment Services Pvt. Ltd., a Hitachi Group Company, is leveraging its top-of-the-line digital payment solutions to drive digital penetration across urban areas and India’s hinterland.

Strengthening the nation’s digital payments infrastructure, Hitachi is providing a comprehensive range of secure and reliable digital payment solutions. In POS, it offers merchant POS solutions, integrated POS solutions and value-added services.

Hitachi is enabling merchants to accept payments through Bharat QR, UPI, and wallet transactions on a single POS device, along with standard card payments. With this, Hitachi is empowering customers by giving them multiple payment options while enabling merchants to accept various payments through a single device.

With pandemic driving payment innovations such as contactless payments for safe and secure transactions, Hitachi is accelerating its adoption by enabling Near Field Communication (NFC) based contactless card payments. Customers can now simply tap or wave their card over the POS machine for making payments, facilitating a faster check-out experience that benefits both customers and merchants.

Meanwhile, the emergence of Soft POS solution, that transforms merchant’s smartphone into a POS terminal, is all set to empower millions of micro and small merchants by enabling them to accept digital payments without investing in traditional POS machines.

Covering the entire payment spectrum, Hitachi’s comprehensive solutions, including Internet Payment Gateway Solutions, Digital Payment Platform (Bharat QR) and Toll & Transit Solutions, enable banks and merchant aggregators to offer innovative and secure digital payment services to merchants and their end customers. Backed by extensive industry expertise, robust payment infrastructure, PAN-India reach and end-to-end services, Hitachi is further driving penetration of acceptance infrastructure and offering a seamless payment experience for the digital natives of a vibrant Digital India.