Though much progress has been made in the development, spread and adoption of digital payments, there is a lot of scope to further deepen and expand digital payments in the country, according to RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra.
“Digital payments have become the preferred mode of payment for many of us. However, surveys have shown that nearly 40 per cent of our adult population still do not use digital payments. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of awareness or familiarity with using digital payments,” he said in his address at the inaugural of Digital Payments Awareness Week 2025 on Monday in Mumbai.
20 billion payments
In January 2025, more than 20 billion payments worth almost ₹250 lakh crore were made through digital modes in India.
Malhotra observed that geographies and population segments lagging behind in usage and awareness of digital payments need to be identified and suitable steps should be taken to expand awareness and improve usage.
The Governor emphasised that while in domestic payments the success of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has propelled India to a leadership position with a share of 48.5 per cent in global real-time payments by volume, RBI will endeavour to make cross-border payments more efficient.
This assumes priority as India is the largest receiver of personal remittances globally. As per a World Bank report, it has been estimated that in 2024, India received remittances totalling approximately $130 billion.
Continue to expand
“We need to address the challenges of high cost, slow speed, and insufficient access and transparency in cross border payments. We will continue to expand the reach of UPI bilaterally by linking it with Fast Payment Systems of other countries.
“We will also explore the possibility of linking payment systems other than UPI for facilitating efficient cross-border payments. We will continue our engagement in a multilateral project named Project Nexus, to enable instant cross-border retail payments,” Malhotra said.
He underscored that RBI will continue to encourage innovation in payments, as also generally, while being mindful of risks and taking appropriate measures to mitigate them.
Malhotra said: “We will promote innovation to facilitate payment systems that are fast, safe, secure, accessible and resilient. We have adopted a soft-touch approach to regulating the payments ecosystem and FinTechs. Through these regulations, the Reserve Bank attempts to balance these divergent set of expectations.
“Our approach has been to put in place regulatory guardrails within which all stakeholders are free to operate. We will continue to encourage innovation while promoting safety and security through softtouch regulations,” he added.
