Post demonetisation, Government of India took several steps to ensure smooth transition to a digital or a cashless economy. Initiatives such as ’Digital India’ aim at transforming India into a digitally empowered society and expect to further accelerate awareness, availability and adoption of digital technologies.

However, the benefits of digital payments also increase the level of risks involved. The principal concern over the rush to digital economy is the growing threats of cyber-attacks across sectors. Lack of awareness among customers and weak digital payment ecosystem are the key reasons that have amplified the chances of getting exposed to cybersecurity risks such as online fraud, information theft, and malware or virus attacks.

In this thought leadership, we examined the digital payments ecosystem (in India) from a lens of readiness of framework for adopting the technology, emergence of new industry (Fintech), security and preventive measures that an Indian citizen needs to take before taking a leap of faith in the digital world, and measures to avoid frauds.

The report also discusses key findings from the survey conducted by KPMG in India for various customers and users across different sectors on key aspects such as acceptance, key barriers, challenges and awareness of the digital payment ecosystem post demonetisation.