India’s small businesses still stick with cash
A MasterCard study suggests that 96% of the country’s small businesses and traders continue to deal in cash and few conduct transactions through digital payments.
A MasterCard study suggests that 96% of the country’s small businesses and traders continue to deal in cash and few conduct transactions through digital payments.
Although digital payments and wallets have garnered much publicity, India’s transformation into a cashless economy has made only limited progress, reports MasterCard.
The US based financial services company is conducting awareness workshops across the country in association with Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) to promote digitisation of payments among Indian traders.
MasterCard is urging India’s micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to take up online payments, which currently account for just 4% of total transactions in the country with the remainder still employing cash.
“Small merchants are yet to realise the positive impact digital payments could have on their business,” said Ravinder S Aurora, group head, senior vice president, MasterCard. The group has joined forces with the CAIT in training over 50,000 traders across the country under the digital campaign exercise, he added.
“The shift to electronic payments indicates shift from formal to informal system. It brings operational efficiency, transparency, reduces costs,” said Aurora. MasterCard is promoting the benefits of cashless payments, such as how they provide merchants with data that they can use to fuel their business as well as educating traders on how they can grow businesses online.
Aurora said that the group is in talks with India’s central and state government agencies, and had also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state of Gujarat to bring in digital payments for traders.