'111.45 crore digital payments were made in May 2017'

New Delhi: Over 111 crore digital payment transactions were conducted in May this year as against more than 118 crore transactions in April, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

The number of digital payment transactions stood at 71.27 crore in October last year, which increased to 83.48 crore in November, 123.46 crore in December and 114.96 crore in January this year, Minister of State for Electronics and IT P P Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

In February, the number dipped to 101.18 crore but surged to 119.07 crore in the following month. In April digital payment transactions stood at 118.01 crore while in May the number was at 111.45 crore, the minister said citing data from the RBI and the NPCI.

"From the above data, it is apparent that the volume of digital transactions increased during November-December 2016 and have plateaued thereafter," he added.

To a separate query, Chaudhary said 38.28 crore transactions worth Rs 73,649 crore were conducted in May this year using credit and debit cards at PoS (point of sale).

Compared to 22.94 crore credit and debit card transactions in October, 2016 (worth Rs 51,883 crore), the volume of the said payment method touched a peak of 53.15 crore (about Rs 89,180 crore) in December 2016.

The minister said BHIM-Aadhaar -- which was launched on April 14 this year -- is a fairly new payment service and so, daily transactions are in the range of 300-400.

"However, it is gradually showing upswing," he said adding that there was a 30 per cent increase in such transactions in May (vs April) and 11 per cent rise in June (vs May).