Contactless grew 6x in since 2019: Visa and Worldline India whitepaper

The whitepaper reveals that contactless payments saw a surge in recent years, their contribution to total face-to-face (F2F) transactions growing by more than 6x from <2.5% in December 2018 to 16% in December 2021.

This mode of less-touch payments in stores ensured consumer safety, a necessity since the pandemic. Additionally, the adoption of EMV chip cards has been important for the growth of contactless payments, aided by supportive regulations that increased the contactless limit in India to 64 USD in 2021.

The cohesive experience of contactless payments, with their inherent convenience, speed, and enhanced security features are a reason for rapid adoption by consumers, merchants, issuers, and payment processors. 

Some highlight from the contactless payments whitepaper include:

• Some of the highest adoption of contactless payments was observed in sectors like Quick Service Restaurants, pharmacies, food, grocery, etc., which accelerated with the impact of the pandemic;

• According to Worldline India, while 25% of all transactions at supermarkets were contactless in January 2020, these transactions rose to 31% by January 2022;

• The user footprint across India stepped up with metro cities leading the way;

• In 2020 and 2021, Delhi NCR, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Telangana had one of the highest proportions of contactless transactions and penetration, across both debit and credit cards;

• Worldline India Digital Payments Report 2021 has shown that while cards contribute to 26% of all digital transactions, they generate 53% of the value of all digital commerce.

Concluding, the whitepaper explained that through the pandemic, contactless payments recovered faster than other forms of face-to-face payment due to greater consumer ease and safety. Wider adoption of contactless payments may be an important component in building smarter payments infrastructure and smarter cities. Contactless payments also result in repeat purchases and customer stickiness, and financial inclusion through cards, a familiar instrument to most consumers today.

For more information about Worldline, please check out the company profile in The Paypers Company Database.