The robust digital payments infrastructure, coupled with a high smartphone and internet penetration rate, has driven the prepaid card market in India. Government policies, the flourishing fintech sector, and the global pandemic outbreak has assisted industry growth in unprecedented ways. In H2 2022, the country recorded over 40 billion digital transactions.
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction volume and value have grown significantly year over year in Q3 2022. Mobile payment instruments, such as PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm, are leading the UPI transaction value and volume in the country.

The swift adoption of digital payments can be seen with each passing quarter in India, and the trend is expected to further continue from the short to medium-term perspective. Over the next three to four years, the growth in online shopping is expected to further accelerate the growth of the prepaid card market in India.

PhonePe and Google Pay stand to gain from the extension of the market share cap deadline to December 2024

To address the risks and protect the UPI ecosystem in India, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced the market cap rules, thereby limiting any single prepaid payments instrument provider to process over 30% of UPI transactions in a month. However, taking into account the present usage and the potential future of UPI, NPCI has deferred the implementation of the market cap several times. In December 2022, NPCI again extended the market share cap deadline to December 2024.

  • Both PhonePe and Google Pay stand to gain significantly from this announcement by NPCI. The two mobile payment instrument providers hold 85% of the total UPI market share in India, even at a time when more than a dozen players are competing in the space. The extension of the deadline is a loss for rivals like Paytm, who were hoping that the NPCI will introduce checks on the growth achieved by some players in the segment.

    For PhonePe to comply with the 30% market cap, the firm would have had to deny services to tens of millions of users. This would mean a step back for India’s digital payment ecosystem which has been growing significantly over the last few years. Consequently, the NPCI has extended the deadline, thereby providing other players to invest and develop a robust infrastructure that can assist them in growing their market share.

    Tokenization can accelerate the digital payments adoption and prepaid card market growth in India

    India already has a robust digital payments infrastructure, which has played a pivotal role in the growth of the prepaid card market over the last three to four years. The prepaid card industry is projected to further growth, as India is poised to gain significantly from the proliferation of tokenization.
  • Tokenization offers two key benefits, including payment security and an enhanced checkout experience. With the tokens flowing through the payment systems without disclosing sensitive customer data or allowing payment aggregators or merchants to store customer data, consumers are better secured. As a result, more and more consumers are projected to adopt digital payments from the short to medium-term perspective in India.

    With the country implementing tokenization at scale and speed, it can unlock positive and smooth payment experiences, thereby driving the next phase of digital payments adoption in India.

    Global fintech firms are entering the Indian market with their prepaid card offering to tap into the lucrative SME segment

    Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are seen as the backbone of the Indian economy, offering vital services, jobs, and growth. It is also the sector that offers a vast untapped growth opportunity. Targeting the segment, global fintech firms are entering the country with their prepaid card services. For instance,
  • In December 2022, Tide, the United Kingdom-based SME-focused fintech firm, announced that the firm is foraying into the Indian market with the launch of two business banking solutions. These include Tide Business Account and RuPay-powered Tide Expense Card. The fintech firm sees India as a ?100 million opportunity. Over the last two years, it is planning to onboard more than half a million SMEs onto its platform.

    Businesses can use the Tide prepaid card solution to withdraw cash, make e-commerce purchases, and other payments. With the growing digitalization among Indian SMEs, B2B prepaid card industry is poised to record strong growth over the next three to four years.

    According to PayNXT360, the prepaid card market (value terms) in India increased at a CAGR of 18.4% during 2018-2022. Over the forecast period of 2023 to 2027, the market is expected to record a CAGR of 29.7%, increasing from US$35.69 billion in 2022 to reach US$134.59 billion by 2027.

    This report provides a detailed data centric analysis of prepaid payment instruments, covering spend through prepaid cards and digital wallets across retail and corporate consumer segments. In addition, it provides a snapshot of consumer behaviour and retail spend dynamics in India. With over 100 KPIs at country level, this report provides comprehensive understanding of prepaid card and digital wallet card market dynamics.
  • Market dynamics: Provides a comprehensive view on size and structure, industry dynamics, market trends, consumer attitude and behaviour, and competitive landscape in prepaid card and digital wallet industry in India.
  • Digital wallet segments: Provides value, volume and average value per transaction across 5 key spend categories in digital wallet. This includes retail, travel, entertainment and gaming, restaurant, and recharge and bill payment.
  • Open loop and closed loop prepaid cards: market estimates and forecasts to assess opportunities 13 open loop and closed loop prepaid market segments. Details four essential KPIs – number of cards in circulation, number of transactions, load value, and value of transactions.
  • Consumer attitude and behaviour: Drawing from proprietary survey results, this report identifies and interprets key prepaid KPIs, including spend by age, gender, and income level.
  • Retail spend: Breaks down retail spend across 11 categories to provide detailed insights on consumer behaviour and changing dynamics of prepaid card spend.