Over 65,000 crore digital transactions have taken place in the last six financial years (FY20 to FY25), amounting to more than Rs 12,000 lakh crore, the Parliament was informed on Monday.
The government has been closely working with different stakeholders including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), fintechs, banks and state governments to increase the adoption rates of digital payments in the country including in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, said Pankaj Chaudhary, Minister of State for Finance, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
RBI has set up a Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) in 2021 to encourage the deployment of digital payments acceptance infrastructure in tier-3 to 6 cities, northeastern states and Jammu & Kashmir, the minister said.
The minister said that as of May 31, 2025, around 4.77 crores digital touch points have been deployed through PIDF. The RBI has developed the Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) to measure the extent of digitisation of payments across the country.
As a result, more people are able to access formal credit channels, which not only empowers economic participation but also brings more entities into the formal financial ecosystem.
Digital platforms like UPI have enabled citizens, including small vendors and rural users, to accept digital payments, reducing cash dependency and increasing formal economic participation, the minister highlighted.
As per the latest data, the RBI-DPI index stood at 465.33 for September 2024, reflecting continued growth in digital payment adoption, infrastructure, and performance across the country. In order to support small businesses and MSMEs in adopting digital payment systems to expand their customer base and improve efficiency, various initiatives have been taken by the government, RBI and National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) from time to time, the minister said.
These include, among other things, the rationalisation of the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for Debit Card Transactions, the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) guidelines that enable MSMEs to receive competitive discounts on their invoices on the TReDS platform, and an incentive programme for small merchants to promote low-value BHIM-UPI transactions.
The growing adoption of digital payments has revolutionised access to financial services, particularly for underserved and unserved communities.
By enabling seamless, traceable transactions through platforms like UPI, digital payments have created a robust financial footprint for individuals and businesses, the minister stated.
