How coronavirus changed India's digital spending habits

Overall digital payment transactions have dropped 30% during the 30 day lockdown during March 24 - April 23 as per data compiled from transactions carried out on Razorpay platform.

To support India's fight against Coronavirus, citizens came forward to help the affected through online donations. As per Razorpay, in the 30 days of lockdown an increase of 180% in the donations towards NGOs were recorded.

Amid lockdown during March 24 - Apr 23, sectors such as Travel, Real Estate, and Food & Beverage (F&B) suffered the most. As per transactions carried out on Razorpay a decline by 87%, 83% and 68% respectively, was recorded as compared to the pre-lockdown period.

During lockdown, as people stayed indoors, some sectors also witnessed huge rise in demand as Utilities (Bill Payments), IT & Software and Media & Entertainment grew by 73%, 32% and 25% respectively.

On Razorpay's platform, the top 3 sectors saw some reordering after lockdown was implemented. The highest transactions were done for utilities followed by Financial services that saw a marginal rise in demand. The share of Food and beverages dropped while Gaming dropped out from the top 3 sectors rankings.

Post lockdown, lending transactions increased by a percentage. Online investments into Mutual funds through the Razorpay platform dropped substantially while demand for insurance products nearly doubled.

During the 30 day lockdown period, some sectors gained while some sectors lost. Sectors that gained demand are Non-Profit organisation, Utilities, Information Technology and Media. While the sectors that lost demand were logistics, travel, food & beverage and real estate.

The payment methods used by consumers also show a change during the lockdown as payments by cards (debit & credit) increased, UPI transactions fell while similar levels of transactions through net-banking occurred.