PayU: Travel spend up 165%; OTT spend up 80%

Paulami Das sees that behaviors formed during the pandemic continue to persist

PayU has unveiled its 'Insights Report - Festive Edition' which compares digital payment transaction trends on the PayU platform between the festive periods of 2022 (September 15 - October 15) and 2021 (October 1-31). 2022 saw a 64% increase in expenditure & 31% increase in the number of transactions vis-à-vis festive sale period in 2021. The report also mapped the overall pandemic impact on Indians' adoption of digital payments for the festive period. There has been a whopping 245% increase in expenditure & 130% increase in the number of transactions between the pre-pandemic period of 2019 & postpandemic period of 2022.

CREDIT CARD PREFERENCE Credit cards were the most preferred mode of payment this season. Interestingly, credit card users spent about 5X more than debit card users in 2022 (total expenditure), in spite of the fact that there is 1 credit card for every 12 debit cards. On an average, a credit card user spent *6000 as opposed to a debit card user who spent 2500 in 2022. YoY, credit card transactions and expenditures grew 42% and 84%, respectively. One reason could be banks offering cashback, reward points, discounts, deals & add-on services on cobranded and standalone cards.