Contactless Payment Increases in India

The COVID-19 crisis caused a lot of changes in consumer behaviors. COVID-19 is raging around the globe, changing different businesses and companies. COVID-19 pandemic contactless payments increase recent times. Due to the current situation with COVID-19, people are using contactless for most of their shopping so they don’t need to touch money or a keypad to enter a PIN. Contactless Payment has made payment simple and easy for the customers. The technology used for contactless payment is RFID and NFC.

Some Pros and Cons of Contactless Payments

• You can pay by card or phone directly, no need to move around with cash and cards. This method is much easier than other payment methods.
• It is secure .No fraudulent transactions, no worries for customers. It reduces the threat of hackers stealing sensitive and valuable information.
• The contactless payment systems are available on different mediums such as smartphones, key fobs, vehicles, or any other mobile system
• Speed is the biggest advantage of using contactless payment systems. It proves cost and time-efficient way.
• No more typo errors when entering your PIN;

Cons

• Only a few merchants use this contactless payment system. Contactless cards are accepted at far fewer locations than mag-stripe.
• Customers may have trouble paying if smartphone is in low charge or not working.
• Not all your customers are educated and some older generation may face the challenge using e-payments apps due to lack of education.
• Malware or spyware attack can steel steal your valuable and sensitive information from your mobile app.

RFID and NFC Technology

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) refers to the small electronic device that consists of a small chip and an antenna. Hence, machines can remotely identify other machines and humans without the need for any physical contact, thus making any task easier, faster and even more flexible. Credit cards and debit cards, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices that use radio-frequency identification (RFID)

Near Field Communication (NFC) operates within a radius of about 4-10 cm and provides a wireless connection between your device and another and allows two-way communication, with both devices to send and receive information. NFC devices are used in contactless payment systems, similar to those used in credit cards and electronic ticket smartcards and allow mobile payment to replace/supplement these systems. Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay or any bank mobile application that supports contactless Near Field Communication (NFC)

Increase Contactless Payment on covid-19 pandemic in India

• More than 50 countries worldwide announced raising contactless limits on the cards.
• From April, over 82 % of Indian consumers will prefer touch less interaction during the pandemic.
• Almost 90% of Indian consumers are comfortable using their mobile phones for payments, especially for in-store purchases.
• PhonePe has seen a significant spike in transactions for specific use cases like money transfers, mobile recharges, and bill payments, groceries, medicines and food.
• Today, in India about 25% cards are contactless and about 15% of the transaction volume is coming from contactless cards, a number which was in single digits a few years back.

Conclusions

As technology is evolving, the cashless mobile payments and online transactions are becoming more fast and convenient. The key difference post Covid-19 is that while digital/contactless payments were already gaining popularity, now they are increasingly becoming a way of life.