For the month ending December 2016, volume and amount of transactions on prepaid cards increased by 55.2% and 44.9% respectively, according to the Reserve Bank of India. Mobile wallets, on the other hand, saw a growth of 54.3% and 125.4% in volume and amount of transactions respectively. Some observations: 1. Number of transactions for prepaid cards raised by 17.04 million in December 2016, registering its biggest fall since September 2016. Total amount transacted went up by Rs 647 crore — biggest decline since November 2016. 2. Number of transactions for mobile wallets grew by 75 million in December 2016 while the total amount transacted was up by Rs 4143 crore. In the month before, volume and amount of transactions for mobile wallets increased by 38.5 million and declined Rs 80 crore respectively. 3. People are more comfortable transacting big amounts on prepaid cards. In December 2016, average amount per transaction for prepaid cards was Rs 436 and it has stayed over Rs 400 consistently throughout the year. For mobile wallets, average amount per transaction is just Rs 349. Data Source: RBI
