Brazil leads the BRIC pack in non-cash payments; India growing but still the laggard : World payments Report 2012

Debit cards continue to gain market share from credit cards in the non-cash payments space, reveals the World Payments Report Report (WPR1) 2012 released by Capgemini (an IT consulting firm), RBS (international banking and financial services company) and Efma ( a global non-for profit organisation with membership from almost a third of all large retail banks worldwide).

The study suggested that Brazil has now become the second-highest ranking country by payment volumes after the US. There were 20 billion non-cash transactions in Brazil in 2010, compared with 13.1 billion in Russia, India and China combined.

The report also stated that global non-cash payments volumes grew by 7.1 percent in 2010, reaching 283 billion and in early 2011 there was an additional 8.2% growth. In 2010, payment volumes in developing markets grew at a much faster rate (16.9%), boosted by a more than 30% increase in both Russia and China.

"Debit card transactions continue to take market share from other types of payment methods because they easily allow people to bypass the use of cash," said Kevin Brown, Global Head, Transaction Services Product, International Banking, RBS. "As more and more consumers move to mobile and other electronic payments, we'll continue to see the exponential growth of innovative payment solutions."

BRIC divergent; India a laggard

Globally, the volume on non-cash payments remain concentrated in developed markets, with North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific together accounting for 79.5 percent. However, the BRIC block shows divergent results with Russia and China boosting payment volume increases of more than 30 per cent, while Brazil has become the second-largest payment country in the world, after the US.

Though India has a great potential for future growth, its payment volume grew by only 10 per cent and remains the BRIC payment laggard. "The BRIC acronym no longer works in payments. Given significant differences in the stages of development within each country, the four countries should be viewed very differently. This is particularly important for Brazil, where volumes are now larger than any individual European country," said Patrick Desmarès, Secretary General, Efma.

(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)