According to a recent global survey commissioned by Mastercard, consumers in India are among the most willing in the Asia Pacific region to embrace emerging digital payment methods, with 93 percent likely to have done so within the last year. More than 50 percent of these digital transactions were done via QR codes or digital money transfer apps. Cash came third with a 51 percent adoption rate, while other conventional methods like in-person credit, debit, or pre-paid cards or contactless cards were used less in comparison to cash. Among the survey respondents, 37 percent are Gen-Z (ages 18 to 25), 48 percent are Millennials (ages 26 to 43), while the rest are older.
The latest data on payment habits, attitudes and preferences was published in Mastercard’s second annual New Payments Index (NPI): a global consumer survey spanning 40 markets across five regions, including seven in APAC: India, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Thailand and Vietnam.
The report found that Indian shoppers use a variety of digital methods to complete their purchases. Among these, digital payments for online marketplace purchases were the most popular at 56 percent. Nearly half (48 percent) of respondents claimed to have made a mobile app purchase, while about 55 percent said they have used a payment method exclusive to a particular business, such as loyalty points or store credits.
Anubhav Gupta, Senior Vice President and Customer Solutions Lead, South Asia, Mastercard, said, “Mastercard research shows that India is a leading market in Asia Pacific in ensuring consumer comfort with payment methods such as wearables, mobile wallets, credit and debit cards, and QR codes. That said, there is still a need to earn and retain consumers’ trust. Awareness is growing amongst stakeholders in the ecosystem – government, regulators, banks, and fintech players – that the industry must work together to deepen trust in digital payments, through joint efforts such as card-on-file tokenization. This spirit of cooperation and consensus augers well for the future of Digital India.”
