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New Delhi-based RapiPay Fintech Pvt Ltd has been recording a nearly 50 per cent rise in cash withdrawals on its network for the past two months, with many parts of rural India still seeking cash for emergency and essential services.
The contribution of cash withdrawals to overall business increased to 47 per cent so far in May this year (till date) from 31 per cent in March. The average ticket size of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) transactions rose to ₹2,905 in May from ₹2,500 in March, according to RapiPay Fintech’s internal data.
The average ticket size of Micro ATMs (M-ATMs) withdrawals also rose to ₹3,970 for the reporting month from the earlier ₹3,636 in March.
“Even though people have started using digital payment modes, the second wave of the pandemic has caused some uncertainties, with people preferring to hold on to cash in case of a crisis. People are withdrawing more cash from their neighbouring stores or banking correspondents to pay for emergency and essential services,” RapiPay Fintech Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Yogendra Kashyap said.
“Because of the lockdown, people are unable to travel to ATM machines or banks in rural areas, and withdrawals are mainly to meet immediate cash requirements for medicines and doctors’ consultation fees among. Also, citizens are withdrawing payments received under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), which is also adding to the withdrawals,” he added.
About 40 million people had applied for jobs under MGNREGS in April up from 36 million in March, while about ₹20,000 crore has been credited to nearly 9.5 crore farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme.
For May, Meghalaya topped the charts in AEPS with an average ticket-size of ₹7,810 versus ₹6,313 in March followed by Nagaland ₹5,174 (₹3,790 in March), Goa ₹5,290 (₹1,433), Assam ₹3,950 (₹3,600) and Kerala ₹3,706 (₹3,200). On the M-ATMs front, Jammu & Kashmir topped the list with an average withdrawals of ₹7,235 (₹3,291 in March), followed by Manipur ₹5,019 (₹5,000), Nagaland ₹4,950 (₹4,600), Kerala ₹5,190 (₹4,169) and Arunachal Pradesh ₹4,602 (₹4,600).
Across India, the transaction value of AePS rose 166 per cent in the last six months.
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