India’s card payments market to rise 28.6% to $337.1b in 2023

Consumers in India are increasingly embracing electronic payments, GlobalData said.

India’s card payments market will grow by 28.6% to $337.1b (INR27.9t) in 2023, according to forecasts by GlobalData. 

Economic growth, consumers’ increasing preference for electronic payments, and local authorities’ efforts to boost cashless payments will drive the rise, the data and analytics company said.

Cash withdrawals at ATMs have slowed down in India. ATM cash withdrawals will only rise by 4.6% to $416.2b in 2023, GlobalData posits. 

By 2027, card payments are expected to have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.2%, whilst ATM cash withdrawals will only grow by 7%.

In contrast, contactless payments are gradually gaining steam. In face-to-face payment transactions, contactless payments now make up 16% of all transactions as of December 2021, according to data from Visa and Worldline.

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“Consumers in India are increasingly embracing electronic payments, gradually moving away from cash,” said Kartik Challa, senior banking and payments analyst at GlobalData. 

“Whilst mobile wallets have been the major beneficiary of this trend, card payments are also on the rise, with growing consumer awareness about card benefits and rising merchant acceptance.”

Given these, GlobalData now expects card paCard payments are expected to grow at a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.2% over 2023–27f, compared to a much slower CAGR of 7% forecast for ATM cash withdrawals during the same period.”