Over 50% of Indians now recharge phones online

The share of digital cell phone recharging in India for the first time exceeded 50 per cent in 2020 as the pandemic led people to minimize shopping and instead opt for online transactions, a trend that could continue.

At Reliance Jio, the share of Internet charges rose from 35% to 50% in the December quarter after hitting 60% during the block in the end of June, in the end of March, said one of the company’s top executives.

At Bharti Airtel, half of the replenished revenue in 2020 came from the digital channel for the first time, a company official said.

Fintech companies, including Google Pay and PhonePe, the payment gateway CC Avenue and startups like Niyo and Spice Money, said there was a 55-75% increase in mobile charging transactions.

“We’ve seen charging operations grow by around 55% per year (December 2019 and December 2020),” a PhonePe spokesperson told ET. “We’ve seen a big spike in the charging category as the country has moved to blockchain and continued even after the spike lock, indicating a constant change in habits as more people continue to charge online.”

According to Google Pay, the pandemic has forced many first-time users to consider digital payments for frequently performed transactions such as mobile charging and billing.

“In a quarter of the pandemic, online searches like‘ How to pay on the internet ’and‘ UPI ’increased by more than 30% and‘ How to pay for electricity on the internet ’increased by 180% and we are significantly o in these cases. We have seen a rise. Google Pay also confirms this trend. Lovebylife