Demonetisation effect: 48% switched from CoD to prepaid orders, says survey

About 48 per cent respondents of a survey -- done by Ratan Tata-backed CashKaro.com -- said they have switched from cash on delivery (CoD) to prepaid orders, highlighting the growing popularity of digital payments a year after demonetisation.

Debit/credit cards emerged as the most preferred mode with 54 per cent respondents saying they paid using cards, while 30 per cent said they pay via mobile wallets and 6 per cent use net banking and UPI.

Also, 80 per cent of the 2,000-plus respondents claimed that they have introduced either their family or friends to cashless payments post demonetisation.

"The overall impact of demonetisation has been positive as people have renewed faith in cashless payments," Rohan Bhargava, co-founder of CashKaro.com, said.

SoftBank and Alibaba-funded Paytm, which has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the government's move last year to scrap Rs 500 and 1,000 notes, said it has witnessed more than 3.5-times surge in payment transactions.

Paytm runs a mobile wallet, payments bank and has e- commerce operations as well.

"We strongly believe convenience is the biggest factor to drive adoption for any new form of technology... Currently, less than one per cent of all orders on Paytm Mall are cash- based," Paytm COO Kiran Vasireddy told PTI.

E-tailing giant Amazon.in said while cash began returning by end of March 2017 quarter, the company has taken several initiatives to encourage digital payments like providing point of sale (PoS) machine to every delivery agent and launched its own prepaid wallet (Amazon Pay Balance).

"We've been able to reduce CoD share compared to pre- demonetisation period. CoD share in tier II/III cities continues to be lower compared to tier I. We are on a strong path towards displacing cash," an Amazon spokesperson said.

E-commerce player ShopClues said there was a huge spike in digital transactions with only 10 per cent opting for CoD around February. However, since then, there has been a surge in CoD orders with those now standing at around 60 per cent.

"But what needs to be kept in mind is that during this period, our penetration beyond tier III cities has increased at a rapid pace," ShopClues Senior Vice President (Categories) Nitin Kochar pointed out.

He added that while tier II cities, to a large extent, have adopted digital transactions, CoD is still the preferred mode of payment in tier III and IV cities.

Another mobile wallet company MobiKwik said the average daily transactions on its platform grew from 1.5 million pre- demonetisation to 3 million post-demonetisation.

Also, over 25 per cent transactions come from semi-urban and rural users and 75 per cent of MobiKwik users are millennials, its co-founder Upasana Taku said.