Digital payments soar 10x to ₹11.3 lakh crore on Day 1 of GST cuts, e-commerce deals: Report

India’s digital transactions surged to unprecedented levels at the start of the Navratri festive season, buoyed by the biggest Goods and Services Tax (GST) cuts to date and blockbuster ecommerce sales.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed the total value of electronic payments jumped to ₹11.31 lakh crore on Monday, nearly 10 times Sunday’s ₹1.18 lakh crore, reported The Economic Times.

The momentum carried forward into Tuesday with electronic transactions of ₹11.19 lakh crore, signalling robust consumer appetite as the festive shopping season gathers steam.

The surge coincided with Amazon’s Great Indian Festival and Flipkart’s Big Billion Days sales, launched a day after the government slashed GST rates on big-ticket items such as televisions, air-conditioners and dishwashers to 18% from 28%. Apparel and footwear priced up to ₹2,500 now attract a 5% GST rate.

“The conclusion of the Shraddh period and the onset of Navratri, coupled with recent GST reductions and deep ecommerce discounts, have significantly lifted consumer sentiment,” ET quoted Anand Kumar Bajaj, CEO of fintech firm PayNearby, as saying.

Credit card spending on e-commerce platforms rose six-fold to ₹10,411 crore on the first day of sales, while debit card spending tripled to ₹814 crore, according to the report.

Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) transactions surged to ₹8.14 lakh crore from ₹17,166 crore a day earlier. Orders for vehicles by dealers and often end-customers are typically routed through RTGS, typically used for high-value transactions.

Analysts say the GST rejig is fuelling a sharp rise in premium purchases, according to an earlier ET report.

“Consumers are upgrading with the price benefit,” ET quoted Satish NS, president of Haier India, as saying. “TVs of 55–65 inches and higher-rated ACs now account for 70% of sales, up from 50% last year.”

India’s auto sector, which saw sales slump 7.3% in August as consumers postponed purchases to await GST cuts, is also seeing similar trend for top-end models. India’s Festive Season Digital Transactions Soar on GST Cuts, Ecommerce Sales