GUWAHATI: The Northeast region has surged ahead of the national average in digital payments through UPI, according to data presented by the State Bank of India at a regional media conference in Guwahati on Tuesday, June 23.
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An SBI presentation showed that UPI accounts for 90 percent of all digital transactions in the Northeast, compared to 80 percent at the national level. The data, presented at the Vartalap conference organised by the Press Information Bureau, Assam, underlines the remarkable pace at which cashless payments have penetrated the region.
Other digital transaction modes, however, remain far behind. Cash withdrawal accounted for just 6 percent of transactions in the Northeast against 14 percent nationally, suggesting that while UPI has gained strong ground, dependence on physical cash persists in pockets of the region. POS and e-commerce transactions stood at 3 percent for the Northeast compared to 6 percent for the country, while NEFT, RTGS and IMPS together accounted for just 1 percent in both the region and nationally.
The figures paint a picture of a region that has leapfrogged conventional banking channels and embraced mobile-based payments directly, mirroring a broader national trend where UPI has become the dominant mode of digital transactions.
While answering a media question, a senior SBI official said that since Assam accounts for the largest share of the population in the northeast, the state's digital transactions are likely higher than the national average, just like northeast combined.
Experts at the conference noted that the JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile) architecture laid the foundation for this shift, bringing previously unbanked populations into the formal financial system through their smartphones rather than through traditional bank branches.