COVID-19 – A catalyst for ushering M-wallet growth in India

Abstract

Digital payments in finance is equally important to invention of wheel was for transport. Digital payments in India are expected to grow over three-folds to Rs 7,092 trillion by 2025 on account of government policies around financial inclusion and growing digitisation of merchants, according to a research report. The country's digital payment market was worth around Rs 2,162 trillion in 2019-20.The current 160 million unique mobile payment users will multiply by 5 times to reach nearly 800 million by 2025. According to the report, wallets will continue to play a key role in its growth with the continuous increase in both frequency and user base. "COVID-19 seems like another demonetisation-like catalyst for the industry. Digital payment providers have been quite hands-on in terms of responding to this situation, by offering enhanced support on essentials such as offering groceries, masks, sanitisers, COVID-19 insurance, offering integration with donations to PM fund and other essential product and services. The present study is an attempt to highlight the scope of growth of M- Wallets in the current economic scenario of India along with comparing the basic competitive features of M Wallet players specifically focusing on ease of operation and cost incurred for the consumers. It is felt that there is a need for technological advancement by the m-wallet companies which would ultimately result in reduction in transaction cost and expansion in user base and hence revenue.