India Is Digital Payments Dynamite

Being No. 2 isn't so bad. India is No. 2 in the world in several key metrics that mark it as a country to watch in digital payments: second-highest population, second highest number of mobile phone users, second-most Internet users, and second most smartphone users.

The Boston Consulting Group and Google recently collaborated on a study named Digital Payments 2020: The Making of A $500 Billion Ecosystem In India, painting a bright future in digital payments for several reasons: technology; 10-fold growth in merchant acceptance; rise of data-driven consumer benefits; consolidation leading to simplification; a unified payments interface (UPI) stokes widespread adoption of digital payments; national ID system eases KYC; and non-cash transaction volume will continue to accelerate, surpassing cash transactions by 2023.