India’s digital payments boom: Visa’s Rishi Chhabra on contactless innovation, trust, and financial inclusion

From chai stalls in Ludhiana to metro rides in Mumbai, India’s payment behaviour is undergoing a radical transformation. Contactless payments, once a novelty, are now a national habit. At the heart of this shift is a rapidly digitising population, a surge in mobile-first consumers, and a robust regulatory push toward financial inclusion.

One company that’s been pivotal in shaping this journey is Visa. With decades of global experience and deep local partnerships, Visa has steadily evolved from a card network to a digital enabler, quietly powering India’s fintech story from the backend. Leading this mission is Rishi Chhabra, Country Manager, Visa India, who is not only steering innovation in secure, seamless payments but also championing digital literacy in rural communities and supporting women-led micro-businesses.

In this wide-ranging conversation with Business Today, Chhabra discusses what’s fuelling India’s contactless boom, how Visa is embedding security into every transaction, and why the next wave of digital payments will be driven as much by trust as by tech.

PD: What are the key factors driving the rapid adoption of contactless payments in India?

Rishi Chhabra: Contactless payments are friction-free and convenient and are accelerating digital payments adoption in India. With improved connectivity across the country, contactless payments are simplifying how we pay, led by innovations like contactless cards, smartphone-based tap and pay, QR codes, and mobile wallets.  

A key driver is the shifting consumer behavior of the country’s digitally native, young, tech-savvy population, which prioritises speed, ease and security in its experiences. Visa’s recent report also highlights that the availability of smartphones and affordable internet access has made digital payments quite popular beyond metros and in tier 2 and 3 cities. 

Per a Visa report of 2023, 76% of consumers believed contactless payments will grow across devices and merchant categories, underscoring their rapid adoption. As India embraces a digital-first economy, contactless payments are set to become a chief mode of payment, driving convenience, financial inclusion and economic growth.

PD: How is Visa ensuring security remains a top priority while enhancing payment convenience?

Rishi Chhabra: At Visa, trust is our promise and security is how we deliver on that promise. Our commitment to safeguarding digital payments is reflected in our $12 billion investment in cutting-edge security technologies over the past five years.

As digital payments in India grow, so does the threat of sophisticated scams. Responsible AI has the potential to drive advanced cybersecurity innovation, enhancing defenses against these evolving risks. Visa pioneered AI-driven fraud detection systems in 1993. Since then, we have been leveraging AI to make payments smarter and safer. With our AI-driven fraud-fighting solutions, we saved our customers an estimated $40 billion between October 2022 and September 2023. Our robust dispute resolution processes also make it simple and effective for cardholders to raise chargebacks if there is a suspicious or fraudulent transaction, or they lose their card or wallet.

At Visa, we believe educating citizens on digital literacy, financial awareness, and payment security is key to building consumer confidence, an essential pillar of a secure payments ecosystem. Aligned with the RBI’s "75 Digital Villages" program, in partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY) Common Service Centre (CSC) Academy, we educated 50,000 rural citizens, half of them women, under Visa’s Digital Village program.

Through cutting-edge cybersecurity innovations and leveraging education initiatives like the RBI-led Cybersecurity Awareness Month (Oct’24), Visa is helping build a trusted digital payments ecosystem—where everyone can transact digitally with confidence, anytime, anywhere.

PD: How do you see Tap to Pay and wearable payments evolving in India’s diverse payments ecosystem?

Rishi Chhabra: With Visa’s contactless cards, one can simply tap their card on the POS terminal for purchases below Rs. 5,000 (as per applicable regulatory norms), making it a popular choice for everyday payments. Consumers can also save their credentials on trusted payment apps and use their smartphones to pay with a simple tap. 

The potential of contactless payments extends beyond everyday retail. It can transform multiple sectors, including transit and tourism. Across the world, contactless payments have revolutionised public transport, making it easier for riders to pay seamlessly for their commute and everyday journeys. Globally, Visa has successfully implemented over 750 contactless transit projects, including in cities like London, Osaka, Rio de Janeiro and New York, where riders can use debit, credit, or prepaid solutions for seamless fare payments during their daily commute.

Wearable devices too are transforming on-the-go transactions, seamlessly integrating payments into smartwatches and wristbands that can be tapped on acceptance devices. These payments are convenient and secure, and use tokenised card credentials that are protected by solutions such as the Visa Token Service. With wearable and contactless payments, Visa aims to enhance everyday experiences by expanding access to fast, secure, and effortless payments across India.

PD: What are some of Visa’s latest innovations in securing contactless transactions against fraud risks?

Rishi Chhabra: Payments security is a key priority for Visa, particularly critical as digital payments accelerate in the country. The inherent multilayered features, chip-and-PIN security and encryption make contactless payments a simpler and safer way to pay for most transactions in our daily lives.

Additionally, Visa’s advanced technologies combine AI and predictive machine learning capabilities for fraud prevention and detection in real time, including for contactless transactions. These helped prevent an estimated $40 billion in fraudulent transactions between October 2022 and September 2023, across the globe.

Two of our powerful products, Visa Advanced Authorisation (VAA) and Visa Risk Manager (VRM) give global issuers integrated, comprehensive fraud risk management. Real-time insights from VAA and customer risk strategies from VRM help us deliver superior authorisation performance for all our clients.  VAA bring 25+ years of AI experience and evaluates 500+ unique attributes in a millisecond.

At Visa, we are always looking for ways to enhance payment security. We are also working on integrating biometrics for payment authentication to make contactless payments simpler and more secure. Globally, we have invested $12 billion in cybersecurity over the past five years to continue leading with innovation to protect every card tapped on the Visa network with unmatched security. 

PD: How is Visa working with merchants to accelerate the acceptance of contactless payments across India?

Rishi Chhabra: Expanding contactless payments needs consumer adoption via merchants. Hence, widespread merchant acceptance is critical. Visa is globally accepted at over 150 million merchant locations and we are growing in our commitment to making digital transactions convenient and safe for businesses of all sizes, particularly for small and micro-merchants.

Small businesses and merchants are the backbone of our economy and are pivotal to growth. As Visa, we work closely with our acquiring partners to make acceptance affordable and simple for merchants. We have significantly reduced acceptance costs and introduced low-cost terminals for merchants across India. We are also working closely with payment aggregators and fintech players to develop solutions like ‘push provisioning’. This solution enables consumers to tokenise their cards for multiple merchants through one platform or portal, usually their banking app, streamlining secure transactions.

Additionally, we are focused on educating merchants on the benefits of digital payments and secure practices. By fostering collaboration, Visa is creating a robust payments ecosystem that drives the expansion of contactless payments for businesses of all sizes and across India. 

PD: How do contactless payments contribute to a more inclusive digital payments landscape, particularly in semi-urban and rural areas?

Rishi Chhabra: Contactless payments are important to driving financial inclusion across India, especially in semi-urban and rural areas. A few years ago, cities like Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad led the contactless payments adoption. But today, Visa Consulting and Analytics’ recent white paper ‘Bridging the Gap: Payments in India Beyond Metros’ shows, digital payments adoption in tier 2 and 3 cities is outpacing metros.  It highlights that card spending in non-metro India has surged 175% since 2019 and cities like Ludhiana and Agra are witnessing the emergence of an affluent population. 

To build on this progress across rural India as well, Visa, in partnership with MeitY’s CSC Academy, is driving awareness on safe digital payments through the Visa Digital Village program. Aligned with the RBI’s "75 Digital Villages" initiative, we have adopted 1,000 villages across 18 states, empowering 50,000 citizens with financial literacy and payment security training.
As more women and youngsters emerge as entrepreneurs, it is critical to ensure they integrate digital payments and security into their business planning. We are passionate about empowering women and communities globally through skilling, financial literacy, entrepreneurial training, and access to knowledge and networks to support women-owned small and micro businesses. 

In India, with our partners United Way Mumbai, our $1M pledge has enabled 11,000 underserved women in over 360 villages and towns through the Visa Empowering Women Entrepreneurs program. The program has enabled these women to build their own sustainable micro-businesses, engage in community matters and supported them to create 170+ self-help groups to help continually exchange ideas about growing their businesses and thriving.

With the goal of accelerating financial inclusion, we are working tirelessly for digital literacy and awareness and making payment technology more accessible. Through contactless solutions like QR codes and card- and mobile-based payments, we can foster trust and build a more inclusive digital payments ecosystem, empowering communities with the tools and knowledge for safer, seamless transactions.

PD: How is Visa aligning with India’s regulatory framework to ensure smooth adoption of new payment technologies?

Rishi Chhabra: India has a pragmatic and consumer-centric regulator dedicated to building an inclusive and accessible digital payments infrastructure. Visa is deeply committed to remaining aligned with India’s progressive regulatory framework and driving the adoption of digital payments.

With the regulator’s guidance on enhancing cybersecurity expertise and awareness among citizens, we align on initiatives like the RBI’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (Oct’24) and Digital Payments Awareness Week (Mar’25). When the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mandated the use of tokens in 2021, Visa led was the first to offer tokenisation and so far, has issued well over 430 million tokens. We continue to innovate further on this technology with new features like secure in-app card payments with partners. 

We are also training law enforcement officials on cybersecurity. Our partnership with the Goa Government and Seva Tech seeks to accelerate financial inclusion by empowering citizens with knowledge about digital payments and financial security.  
As we continue our efforts to foster a digital payments ecosystem that works for all, we are committed to compliance with regulatory policies and guidelines, working towards realising the Viksit Bharat vision of the Government of India.

PD: What emerging payment trends do you foresee shaping the next phase of India’s digital payments journey?

Rishi Chhabra: India’s digital payments journey is being shaped by transformative trends that prioritise convenience, security, and inclusivity. With digital transactions expected to triple by FY29, per a PwC report, contactless payments will offer consumers the option to pay with their smartphones, smartwatches, fobs and more. Looking ahead, innovation in payments will need a strong foundation in trust and AI will have a massive role to play here.

As deep learning algorithms become more sophisticated, real-time risk identification will become easier. Payment authentication will shift from reliance on PINs and passwords to biometric authentication. AI will also be vital in driving personalisation of payment experiences, helping payments become intuitive and easier. 

Real-time payments will also gain momentum, enabling instant fund transfers and settlements that enhance speed and efficiency for both consumers and businesses. Embracing innovations like embedded finance and cross-border payment solutions will help consumers access seamless, personalised payment experiences and businesses improve access to capital. 
It will also be crucial for small businesses to work with independent software vendors that can pre-integrate payment rails to develop operational efficiency and build scalable businesses. As digital payments expand across consumer and business segments, ensuring a personalised and protected payments experience for all is going to be paramount.