Online payments in India have increased manifold in recent years, especially after the demonetization in the country, which happened back in November 2016. Demonetization in India was a planned activity; however, making the newly launched currency notes available to everyone after that event would not be a one-day task. It took a few months for the new currency to reach every Indian citizen. Unlike the old currency, there was no ban on paying online, and that proved to be a major growth factor for online payments.
By the time the new currency reached the Indian citizens, paying online for their purchases had become a habit for many people, and there’s no looking back; online payments just increased from there. Each year, you hear about online payment breaking the previous year’s records. When we talk about the payment methods used to pay for your purchases, there are several methods to pay, but when we talk about the common ones, those include:
- Credit/Debit Cards
- Bank Transfers
- E-Wallets
- Unified Payments Interface or UPI
These are the common payment methods used by people to pay for their online and offline purchases. However, among these methods, the one that is mostly used by people is UPI, and people use different UPI apps to pay for their purchases. And we will talk about the major ones.
Contents
Top Three UPI Payment Apps Used By Indians
1. PhonePe
Phonepe holds a staggering 48 percent of the UPI market share among all the UPI-based payment apps. You can pay using the PhonePe app for almost every purchase, and the reason behind this is its availability at a majority of online and offline merchants. Apart from payment options, you can use this app to buy mutual funds, vehicle insurance, health insurance, mobile recharges, DTH recharges, and pay utility bills.
PhonePe is also listed as a payment option on all reputable betting sites, as it helps them get the badge of fast withdrawal betting sites. It is because payments made and received on PhonePe are quick. They don’t take more than a few seconds for the transactions to get completed. When we talk about the security of payments, you don’t have to worry, as only two things will happen when you make a payment: either it is successfully paid, or if it fails, the amount debited will be credited to your PhonePe account or bank account.
2. Google Pay
Google Pay ranks in the second position when we talk about the market share it holds among UPI-based payment apps, having about 37 percent market share. The Google word in the name is enough when it comes to the security of payments and your personal information. The protection of users’ payments and personal information is on Google, and they have been doing this for years.
The payments made using the Google Pay app are quick, as the payments are received instantly whenever paid from your end. This is the reason that makes people use Google Pay to pay for their offline and online purchases. People know that if their transaction fails in between, the money will be settled into their bank accounts.
3. Paytm
Paytm ranks in the third position in terms of market share in UPI-based payment apps, holding nearly 8 percent of the total UPI transactions done in the country. Just like the above-mentioned UPI apps, you can use Paytm to pay for your offline and online purchases, pay utility bills, mobile and DTH recharges, life insurance, vehicle insurance, and others.
Apart from being a UPI app, this app has an e-wallet, where you can store digital money that can also be used to pay for your purchases. The money in the e-wallet proves to be handy when you have no money in your bank account, as you can still pay using Paytm e-wallet. They have been in operation well before the demonetization event in India.
These three UPI payment apps are mostly used by Indians to pay for their purchases, and paying using bank transfers and debit/credit cards is diminishing day by day. Other payment options are available, but people prefer to pay using these as they find them to be convenient.
Conclusion:
These days, most people prefer to pay online rather than pay in cash, as it makes them free from carrying cash with them. You don’t need to carry anything other than your smartphone, which you usually carry everywhere you go. In this post, we have talked about the common payment methods used by people in India. We have discussed the top UPI-based apps in detail. We hope you liked reading this post. Share your thoughts and feedback in the comments.