New PoS deployment grows at slowest pace since demonetisation: RBI data
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New point-of-sale (PoS) terminal deployment in fiscal 2023-24 grew at the slowest pace since demonetisation, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Between March 2023 and 2024, new PoS terminal deployment rose 14% to 8.9 million, about half the rate of the preceding two years. The deployment of QR codes for UPI payments has doubled in the last two years, with 346 million QR codes in use in March 2024. The convenience of UPI and the government's zero discount rate (MDR) for UPI transactions are encouraging merchants to switch to UPI payments over card swipes. However, the decline in debit card usage is hurting banks' revenue from payments business. The value of debit card transactions fell in FY24 compared to FY23, and the decline in interchange income for banks is affecting their ability to invest in safety features for digital payments. Credit card usage has seen exponential growth, with over 100 million credit cards issued in India. PoS machines are still relevant due to credit card usage and large merchants where the average ticket size of transactions is big. To keep PoS terminals relevant, payment companies are building software services on top of the payment functions, allowing merchants to offer value-added services. However, the popularity of UPI is eating away debit card volumes in the smaller retail segment.

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https://m.economictimes.com/tech/technology/qr-code-payments-swiping-at-pos-terminals/articleshow/110258685.cms