New payments mechanisms designed to aid electronic commerce are gaining popularity.
For every type of monetary transaction, there is a process that runs in the background. These processes differ for various instruments cheques, cash, cards, e-payments, electronic clearing etc. But the backbone of these transactions is the payment systems.
A Recent Reserve Bank of India (RBI) survey found that the level of awareness and familiarity with payment services offered by banks are at varying level. Large corporate bodies have taken number of initiatives for the adoption of new payment modes. The implementation of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software in many companies has enabled migration to include various payment systems in these companies. They have been able to identify cost advantages in the new payment instruments.
Though credit and debit cards have been in use in the country for many years now, the card-based usage has picked up only during the last five years. Internet-based services and e-commerce have boosted them further. Card-based payments are now becoming a much preferred mode for making retail payments in the country. Payments by Electronic clearing service (ECS) mode have jumped over the years.
According to latest Reserve Bank of India data, almost 75% of total transactions (in value terms) in 2006-07 were in electronic format as compared to about 30% three years ago.