App download momentum has increased since demonetization; Paytm and SBI have seen the most traction:
The currency replacement announcement by the government on 8th Nov seems to have had a positive impact on digital payment
service providers (including banks) in the form of higher app download activity. The daily download activity has been 1.7x to 4.6x average pre-demonetization levels, and Paytm and SBI have seen the biggest increases, to 190k/day and 107k/day, respectively (from 45k per day and 23k per day). We note that download activity has picked up even more in the last two weeks vs the first two weeks of currency replacement.
With the government's recent push towards digital banking (through steps such as removing excise duty on goods for manufacturing POS machines until 31st Mar 2017, waiving service tax on debit/credit card transactions of up to Rs2,000, discounts on digital payments for petrol/diesel, etc.), the cash share of consumer payments should go down in India.
