Digital payments, highest in October! Here are 5 ways to go 'cashless'

Mumbai: In a major boost to digital payments in the country, provisional digital transactions data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed that October recorded 965 million transactions, the highest ever so far.

This is a rise of nearly 10 per cent as against 877 million in September, reported the Economic Times.

Digital transactions have garnered massive support from the government which has campaigned for shifting to a “cashless economy”.  "Object of demonetisation was that India is predominantly high cash economy therefore that scenario requires to be significantly altered," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said earlier this year. The Modi government has time and again reiterated that more cash in the economy implies more anonymous dealings with more chances of corruption.

The uptick in digital transaction has worked out well for the various payments apps in the country. Let’s take a look at some of them:

1. E-wallets: E-wallets like Paytm, MobiKwik, PhonePe are swiftly becoming a favourite among users and are the most widely used mode of digital transactions. These do not offer interest on savings but paying through these wallets gives several cashback offers and discounts.

2. USSD Code:  Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code helps one to transfer funds from one bank to another without internet. This makes it more accessibly and easy to use even from a simple featured phone.

3. Payments Bank: Payments banks like Airtel Payments Bank, India Post Payments Bank, Paytm Payments Bank, etc not only facilitate transfer of money but also provide interest on your deposits. Currently, Airtel Payments Bank provides 7.25 per cent interest, Paytm Payments Bank provides 4 per cent interest, India Post Payments Bank provides 5.5 per cent interest and FINO payment bank provides 4 per cent interest.

4. Bank apps: All commercial banks have their own banking apps. Some of these apps are also UPI-enabled.