Amazon Pay India CEO Urges Action On Connectivity, Fraud To Enhance UPI Payments
Around 52% of offline purchases are still made in cash, mainly due to low internet connectivity or issues such as fraud or delayed payments, he said.
There is a need to combat poor internet connectivity and fraud-related concerns to ensure the steady growth of Unified Payment Interface payments during offline purchases, according to Amazon Pay India's Chief Executive Officer, Vikas Bansal.
Ensuring that offline transactions over UPI are convenient and seamless is crucial. Innovations around UPI Lite X in the right direction will help to ensure that more payments are completed without failure, Bansal told NDTV Profit.
Around 52% of offline purchases are still made in cash, mainly due to low internet connectivity or issues such as fraud or delayed payments, he said, citing data from the latest collaborative report by Kearney and Amazon Pay.
The Reserve Bank of India mentioned in its annual report in May that frauds have mostly occurred in the category of digital payments and card/internet transactions, accounting for 80.6% of frauds in fiscal 2024. The total number of these frauds was up more than four times year-on-year and stood at 29,082 during the period. However, the amount involved was relatively small and stood at Rs 1,457 crore.
According to Kearney India and Amazon Pay's report on "How Urban India Pays", digital payment through UPI has increased as more businesses go online with their operations, and most customers prefer to go cashless for online purchases. The report revealed that 90% of respondents prefer digital payments when making online purchases.
The study, which involved 120 cities, over 6,000 consumers, and 1,000 merchants, revealed that the affluent population was the driving force behind the growing popularity of digital payments via UPI, accounting for 72% of online payments made by both men and women. India's millennials (aged 25–43 years) and Gen X (aged 44–59 years) are leading the digital payment revolution. Boomers (60 and older) use more cards and wallets than younger generations.
The rising growth trends around co-branded credit cards and emerging methods like Buy Now, Pay Later were another key highlight of the report, with 87% of respondents aware of the offering and 34% having already used it.
When asked about concerns around high merchant discount rates, which have suppressed the growth of RuPay credit cards on UPI, Vikas said that it is important to ensure transparency for merchants and customers, and merchants should have the option to refuse payment through RuPay credit cards and accept payments as per their choice.
"So, when I scan, I should be able to see if the merchant is accepting the RuPay credit card on UPI, and if not, then I can choose other options. This will be a very important enabler to ensure that we continue to grow the RuPay credit card on UPI," he told NDTV Profit.
Since RuPay credit cards have been linked with UPI, many small and large merchants have requested that their banks disable payments via RuPay credit cards on UPI, as they are often forced to pay a higher MDR than on other credit card transactions.
Bansal also linked internet connectivity, fraud, and concerns around delayed payments to the growth of debit cards on UPI, which, unlike credit, has been largely flat over the years.
