Visa, the global leader in digital payments, has released a comprehensive report detailing how tokenization is powering India’s digital economy. The report, ‘Enabling the Digital Shift: Tokenization in India’s Economic Landscape’, marks one year since the RBI’s mandate on tokenization for e-commerce transactions came into effect.

Commenting on the report, Vasudevan P, Executive Director, RBI, said: “The Visa report provides valuable insights into the transformative role of tokenization in India’s digital payments landscape. As the country moves towards a digital economy with increasing transaction volumes, tokenization has huge potential to further digitize the payments ecosystem. We appreciate the efforts of all ecosystem participants, including Visa, to advocate for tokenization and highlight its benefits. With a significant 560 million tokens already in circulation and a rapid growth rate, we expect tokenization to become a critical force in the development of digital payments.”

Sandeep Ghosh, Group Country Manager for India and South Asia at Visa, commented: “RBI’s visionary policies and supportive regulatory framework have made India a global leader in digital payments. This has accelerated the rapid growth of digital payments and seamless implementation of innovations such as tokenization. At Visa, we are proud to have issued over 300 million tokens in India and by introducing innovations such as biometric authentication, contactless payments and integrated commerce solutions, we aim to improve customer experience, reduce fraud and drive the expansion of digital payments.”

The report provides a comprehensive overview of India’s tokenization journey.

Here are six digital payment trends that could make tokenization easier in India

Simplified payments: Tokenization will make payments much easier, including through voice assistants and smart devices that use augmented and virtual reality.

Revolutionize trading: Digital card issuance will become faster, subscription-based services will become easier, and even the shopping experience with grab-and-go stores will change.

Faster token deployment: Simplified tokenization capabilities will make the process of transferring tokens (digital representation of card information) between the card issuer and destination wallets and website faster and easier

Smooth authentication: Tokenization can be combined with biometric authentication (such as fingerprint or facial recognition) to reduce card-related fraud.

Improved B2B Payments: Tokens allow businesses to streamline matching, issue unlimited virtual cards, and set transaction spending limits to mitigate risk

Contextual trading: By combining tokenization with social media, users can enjoy a seamless shopping experience directly on their favorite platforms.