Payment volumes fall in May amid lockdown

Payment transactions witnessed a sharp contraction in May as the second wave of covid-19 infections and the ensuing lockdowns hit consumption and business activity across the board. Consolidated data of offline and online payments showed that transaction volumes fell by 5.2% during the month compared to April.

The consolidated numbers include data from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI), covering Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Cheque Truncation System (CTS), credit and debit card usage at point of sale devices and online payments, besides cash withdrawals and a few other modes.