BENGALURU: Digital transactions, which include UPI, card payments , wallets and netbanking,witnessed a 30 per cent slump in the 30 days of the lockdown period, a survey by the
fintech firm Razorpay indicated.
Due to hoarding of essentials and panic buying, online spending had increased by 10 per cent in the first two weeks of March , but later dipped again since people were confined indoors and there was a dip in overall consumption trends.
However, online donations towards various funds and NGOs grew by 180 per cent, reflecting an increasing participation of citizens to support the underprivileged.
The report was based on the transactions done on the Razorpay platform and indicated that online bill payments, IT, Software, Media and entertainment witnessed a growth of 73 per cent, 32 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
Due to supply chain disruptions and other restrictions, digital transactions on logistics (96 per cent), travel (87 per cent), real estate (83 per cent), food and beverage (68 per cent) and even grocery (54 per cent) declined during the lockdown. UPI emerged as the choicest mode of digital transactions (43 per cent) followed by cards ( debit and credit at 39 per cent) and netbanking (10 per cent).
In UPI Apps, Google Pay contributed the highest with a 46 per cent share followed by PhonePe with 29 per cent and Paytm with 10 per cent.
During the lockdown, Paytm saw a drop by 47 per cent, Google Payby 43 per cent and PhonePe by 32 per cent, the Razorpay report indicated.Interestingly, tier II and III cities moved towards mobile wallet transactions during the lockdown with more contributions going towards the PM CARES fund and cashback offers.JioMoney, Amazon Pay and PayTM contributed to the maximum wallet transactions, the fintech company said in its report.