India Clings to Cash, Even as Tech Firms Push Digital Money
- 6 years ago
India Clings to Cash, Even as Tech Firms Push Digital Money
Anusheel Shrivastava, a top Kantar executive in India, said his firm found
that 6 percent of mobile phone users made at least one digital transaction a day in 2017, up from 2 percent in 2016.
ALIGARH, India — Signs and banners for Paytm, India’s biggest digital payments service, festoon Pooran
Singh’s cellphone shop, where people drop in all day to add data or talk time to their prepaid phones.
“In India, we’re going to see a similar rise,” Mr. Sengupta said in November, shortly after Google introduced Tez, a payments app for India.
The scene in Mr. Singh’s shop underscores a persistent reality of India’s economy: People prefer cash for most routine transactions, despite intensive efforts by the government
and global technology companies to lure them onto digital platforms.
“People recharge in cash,” Mr. Singh said, after a young man handed him 20 rupees, about 32 cents, to top up his mother’s phone.
Anusheel Shrivastava, a top Kantar executive in India, said his firm found
that 6 percent of mobile phone users made at least one digital transaction a day in 2017, up from 2 percent in 2016.
ALIGARH, India — Signs and banners for Paytm, India’s biggest digital payments service, festoon Pooran
Singh’s cellphone shop, where people drop in all day to add data or talk time to their prepaid phones.
“In India, we’re going to see a similar rise,” Mr. Sengupta said in November, shortly after Google introduced Tez, a payments app for India.
The scene in Mr. Singh’s shop underscores a persistent reality of India’s economy: People prefer cash for most routine transactions, despite intensive efforts by the government
and global technology companies to lure them onto digital platforms.
“People recharge in cash,” Mr. Singh said, after a young man handed him 20 rupees, about 32 cents, to top up his mother’s phone.