My father used to say that when he was young, just one rupee was enough to buy himself groceries for a whole week. And that on the first day of every month, people would queue up at banks to draw out their salaries. When I opened my first bank account, it came with a debit card. By then, the tradition was to withdraw money from an ATM on salary day. All that is long gone. Neither can a rupee buy you anything nor do people line up at bank counters or ATMs. This is the age of the QR code and the smartphone. From vegetables and chai to even your local istri man, every small business accepts digital payments.
Street food no cash, in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
Quick acceptance. Google Pay accounts for almost 35 per cent of UPI transactions. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
Be it tender coconuts or ironware, the sheer convenience of digital payments has converted users. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
With over 300 million monthly active UPI users already, the number is poised to grow as the QR code takes wing. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
Wallets bulging with plastic cards, currency and, coins are all but history. The smartphone is everything. The digital payment revolution, made possible by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), is now the default option. With a smartphone connected to the Internet, an active bank account, and a mobile number linked to that bank account, one can make instant digital payments by simply scanning a QR code.
You are never far from a QR code. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
A man sells breakfasts on a moped cart in Hyderabad. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
The backoffice details are handled by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India. It is also considered the safest way to transfer money, as it requires a two-factor authentication—the phone number mapped to the bank account and the UPI PIN confirmation.
A large QR code standee at an Indian Oil petrol bunk. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
A motorcyclist makes a UPI payment at a toll booth near Electronic City in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
Launched in April 2016, UPI took off later that year in the wake of the overnight demonetisation. In fact, many critics suggested that UPI might have been one reason why the disastrous demonetisation exercise was even undertaken.
A second push for digital payments came during the COVID-19 pandemic three years later. Not only were people convinced that the virus could spread via cash, lockdowns meant home deliveries. Everyone shifted to digital payments. And India is now in a unique position where the digital payment ecosystem is available even to people at the bottom of the pyramid.
Even the smallest of vendors accepts UPI payments. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
Suresh, who runs a pharmacy, says he used to keep sweets to substitute for small change. No longer. Few people look for small change these days. People also prefer UPI because while credit cards incur the retailer a fee of around 2 per cent, there are no transaction fees on UPI. Yet.
Digital payments have enjoyed record-breaking growth in the last few years. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
A pani puri seller is set up for digital payments. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
The QR code too has evolved over the years from a paper sticker to a plastic standee and now, the UPI Soundbox with SIM, which gives instant audio confirmation of each payment.
Balram is from Bihar and sells pani puris in Bengaluru. He says the soundbox is very convenient when his hands are full at peak pani puri hour. Will he hand out the eats or check his phone? Now, he hears the payment confirmation loud and clear. The convenience of the soundbox, he says, is worth the one-time charge of Rs.299 and the monthly SIM charge of Rs.50 that he now needs to pay.
Tailors are just one of the many vendors who accept digital payments. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
A sweet break is a breeze at a juice stall. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
Kumar, a kirana store owner, says he used to spend more than an hour after shutting shop to count the day’s takings and prepare the accounts. Now, most transactions happen through UPI, and all he has to do is download the daily transaction statements.
Topping up my car at a petrol pump, I saw an enormous QR code sign. The attendant said it was to help people scan and pay while still in their cars. “How convenient,” I thought.
Among the books at a second-hand book stall on Avenue Road, Bengaluru, is a book by Ashneer Grover, the co-founder of the BharatPe UPI app. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
Small change is no longer a big worry, neither is keeping accounts. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
For Geetha, a vegetable vendor, says more than 70 per cent of her transactions are now digital. As she does not have a smartphone, she notes each transaction in a small book. Earlier, she used to go to the bank twice a week to deposit money. Now, she goes only about once in two weeks.
PhonePe and Google Play make up almost 80 per cent of UPI payments in India. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
Some issues, of course, still remain with digital payments. Transactions often fail due to slow data speeds or communication issues between the bank and the UPI app. Usually, these are settled between the bank and UPI provider. But it causes confusion among people about whether the amount was deducted or not. Another reason for failures is that there is a limit on the number of transactions and on the total amount of funds that can be transacted in a 24-hour period across all UPI apps. Beyond the limit, payments fail. Banks, struggling to meet the demand for UPI payments, have lowered the limits further.
QR codes have now become omnipresent in India. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
A cobbler sits at the ready to accept digital payments. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
But for the most part, UPI payments have been hassle-free. India has over 300 million monthly active UPI users, and as of 2022, there were 2,348 UPI transactions taking place every second. But NPCI data shows that the growth is in volumes and not in value, with people using UPI for small transactions only, which are getting smaller over time.
A street vendor in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
This vegetable seller is one of many living in the digital payment age. | Photo Credit: Arindam Thokder
From 2017-18 to 2022-23, the share of UPI in retail payments grew by 21 per cent. This is quite the success story. The only catch? It is going towards creating a myth that digitising everything is the only measure of a developed country. And therein lies the risk.
Arindam Thokder is a Bengaluru-based independent photographer with a keen sense of contrast and colour. His main interests are documenting social issues, conflicts, charitable aid, travel, and the cultures of India.
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