A cautionary tale for PoS machines, cards: India is swiping left in the era of QR codes

An apparel store in Bengaluru asks customers to scan QR code for UPI payments, even as a PoS machine is tucked away; Photo by Anand J

Synopsis
The pandemic has upended India's point of sale (PoS) business with smaller players struggling to raise funds. In December 2022, credit-debit card spending at PoS terminals was less than INR1.7 lakh crore, compared with nearly INR13 lakh crore done using UPI. This unfavourable consumer preference may make the offline payments business a two-horse race.

Let us get this straight. Indians are showing more love to scanning than swiping. Even the generation that got used to swiping their cards for the longest time is scanning QR codes to pay. Transaction numbers will tell you that over the last three-four years, smartphones have been doing more than what our bulky physical wallets, and the cards inside them, could do. In December last year, credit and debit card spending at point-of-sale (PoS)

( Originally published on Feb 04, 2023 )