India

Cash has retreated quickly in Indian shops: Worldpay estimates it fell to 15% of in-store spending by value in 2024, from 80% in 2014, while wallets (in practice mostly UPI apps) reached 58%. The standard way to pay is the UPI QR code, displayed by street vendors and supermarkets alike and often paired with a speaker device that announces each incoming payment. Card terminals accept Visa, Mastercard and the domestic RuPay scheme, including contactless tap, and RuPay credit cards can be linked to UPI so card-holders can pay at QR-only merchants.

Worldpay estimated Indian e-commerce at about US$146 billion in 2024, forecasting 17% annual growth to 2030. Sales are concentrated on marketplaces such as Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho, alongside quick-commerce apps (Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart) and the government-backed ONDC network. Cash on delivery persists: in the World Bank’s 2024 Findex survey, 7.5% of adults had paid cash on delivery for an online purchase, close to the 8.7% who had paid digitally. Merchants should price in rupees, offer EMI on cards, capture GST details for business buyers and plan for COD collection and returns.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulates payments under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007; NPCI operates UPI, RuPay, IMPS and NACH. Non-bank payment aggregators need RBI authorisation under the September 2025 Payment Aggregator Directions, which cover online, physical and cross-border aggregation, require merchant due diligence and bar merchants from storing card data (card-on-file tokenisation applies). All payment system data must be stored only in India. Under RBI authentication directions in force from 1 April 2026, digital payments need two-factor authentication, with a dynamic factor for card-not-present payments. NPCI announced that from 15 October 2026 a 0.4% merchant discount rate, capped at ₹300, applies to UPI merchant payments above ₹2,000, with small merchants exempt; smaller UPI payments stay free.

The World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 found that 89% of Indian adults had an account in 2024, up from 78% in 2021. Usage lags ownership: 16% of account holders had an inactive account, and only 29% of adults said they had made a digital payment in the past year. Card ownership is modest, at 38% of adults for debit cards and about 5% for credit cards, and just 42% said their main phone was a smartphone, so cash and assisted channels still matter for many households.