The RBI's annual report for FY23 said that digital transformations were responsible for India's post-pandemic resilience. The WHO said that India experienced massive growth in total digital payments during and after the pandemic. Transactions routed through digital mode recorded a marked expansion in 2022 - 23 over and above the strong growth witnessed a year ago.
In 2022 - 23, total digital payments recorded growth of 57.8 per cent and 19.2 per cent in volume and value terms, on top of growth of 63.8 per cent and 23.1 per cent, respectively, in the previous year, the annual report said.
In 2022, India outpaced other countries to become the largest player of real-time transactions globally, with a 46 per cent share in 2022.
Quick merchants were able to buoy the strong penetration and growth in Unified Payments Interface UPI.
Onboarding, growing digital awareness and policy push on continuous enhancements in the scope and reach of payment systems, the report said.
The RBI introduced several fresh streams in payment systems to enhance functions and educate consumers on the digital journey.
Listing the additions, the report said, The UPI LiteUPI Lite was introduced to facilitate small value transactions in offline mode using UPI through an on-device wallet. By extending the financial products linked for payment processing, RuPay credit cards were allowed to deepen usage by broadening the financial products linked for payment processing. With the introduction of single block multiple debits in UPI, UPI's merchant payment options were expanded. The Central also extended the UPI reach to non-resident Indians and foreign nationals, in a bid to ease merchant payments. The linking of UPI with PayNow of Singapore has helped facilitating low-cost fund transfers and remittances between the two countries. The scope of the Bharat Bill Payment System BBPS was extended to encompass all types of payments and collections. The report added that BBPS was also extended to provide a standardised bill payment experience to NRIs.
For the current fiscal FY24 fiscal year, the central bank said it wants to expand the ongoing pilots in the CBDC central bank digital currency - retail and CBDC-wholesale - by incorporating various use cases and features.
The RBI introduced its Digital Currency CBDC in phases during the year, with pilots for Digital Rupee in the wholesale and retail markets on November 1, 2022 and December 1, 2022, respectively. The pilots were followed by issuance of a concept note on CBDC to increase awareness about CBDCs in general and the planned features of e-Rupee in particular.
India's growth momentum is likely to be sustained in an atmosphere of easing inflationary pressures in 2023 - 24 in an atmosphere of sound macroeconomic policies and softer commodity prices, the report said.
The RBI's annual report for 2022-23, a statutory report of its Central Board of Directors, highlighted its monetary policy remains focused on the withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation progressively aligns with the target while supporting growth.