Digital payments industry to hit $500 bn by 2020 with 50% internet users in India: Report

New Delhi: Digital payments industry in India is expected to reach US $500 billion by 2020, with over 50 percent of Internet users in the country will be using it by then, a report said.

“BCG projects that more than 50 percent of India’s Internet users will use digital payments by 2020, when the size of digital payments industry in the country will be US $500 billion,” the report by global telecom body GSM Association and Boston Consulting Group said. The report was prepared over BCG research in six countries – Brazil, China, Germany, India, South Korea and the US.

“In India, BCG estimates that digital technologies will influence up to 45 per cent of all retail sales by 2025,” the report on Embracing the Digital Revolution: Policies for Building the Digital Economy’ said.

As Internet adoption and use rise in India, the government and others are increasingly turning to digital solutions to long-standing problems, it said. The report counts government’s plans to build 100 smart cities across the country and ‘Digital India’, which aims to increase the optical fibre network to thousands of villages where two-thirds of the population lives.

“The opportunity for expansion of service delivery is huge as the number of connected Internet users in India is expected to more than double in the next few years to as many as 550 million. New users are expected to comprise more older people, rural residents and women,” the report said.

It noted scope of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) system which enables anyone in the country to obtain an electronic and digitally-signed proof of identity. “Almost the entire adult population carry Aadhaar cards that facilitate electronic payments, and the electronic payment industry today encompasses telcos, banks, wallet companies and e-commerce firms,” the report said.

The report appreciated India along with China, Colombia and Uruguay for use of digital and mobile technologies for creating educated and digitally literate user base