Over 50% of Indians now recharge phones online

New Delhi: The share of digital mobile phone recharges in India crossed 50% for the first time in 2020 as the pandemic led people to minimise stepping out to stores and instead opt for online transactions, a trend that experts said may continue.
At Reliance Jio, the share of online recharges increased to 50% in the December quarter from 35% in the March quarter, after having touched 60% during the lockdown in the June-ended quarter, according to a senior company executive.
At Bharti Airtel, half of its recharge revenue for all of 2020 came from the digital channel for the first time, a company official said.
Fintech companies including Google Pay and PhonePe, payment gateway CC Avenue and startups such as Niyo and Spice Money said there was a 55-75% surge in mobile recharge transactions.
“We have seen around 55% growth in recharge transactions year on year (Dec 2019 vs Dec 2020),” a PhonePe spokesperson told ET. “We saw a big spike in the recharge category since the country went into lockdown and the spike has continued post-lockdown as well, indicating a permanent change in habits with a lot of people now continuing to recharge online.”