India tops list of countries most likely to support fully cashless economy

India, Malaysia, the UAE and Indonesia are the countries most likely to support a completely cashless society, according to moneytransfers.com

Almost eight out of 10 people in India are in favour of the country’s economy becoming cashless. Out of these, more than 20 per cent said they would use digital mode of payment even on small purchases like buying a pack of chewing gum.

Nearly 65 per cent of those polled in Malaysia expressed confidence in a cashless economy while 63 per cent of consumers surveyed in the UAE and Indonesia were open to using digital forms of money, according to a report by the portal, which used the YouGov data to rank 21 countries likely to accept a fully cashless economy.

More than half of respondents in Vietnam, Singapore, Italy, the Philippines, and Thailand said they prefer to pay digitally when making a “very expensive” purchase such as buying a new electronic device.

Globally, Covid-19 is spurring faster adoption of digital payments and particularly contactless payments due to heightened awareness about infection spread through bank notes and plastic money.

With the “cashless movement” given a boost, more companies and customers are starting to shun traditional cash payments, London-based moneytransfers.com said.

It analysed the latest data from the YouGov, which interviewed 25,823 adults from 21 countries, to assess which countries in the world would prefer a cashless society.

Participating countries included Canada, India, the UK, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, the US, Italy, Spain, the UAE, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Only 46 per cent of the respondents from China and Hong Kong said they preferred going fully cashless.

Covid-19 pandemic has affected almost every area of our lives and the money transfer industry is no different, moneytransfers.com said

“Due to the emergence of coronavirus, cashless payments are the preferred payment option for businesses and individuals … as the act of handing over banknotes could lead to an expedited spread of the virus,” it added.

Some of the advantages of a cashless society include these payments are eco-friendly, quicker, require zero human contact, boost users’ credit score and they would be cheaper to run for many countries, the report found.

More than half of respondents in the top six countries reveal they have used less cash since the pandemic outbreak.

Although India was the most receptive to becoming cashless, only 47 per cent of respondents have used cash less often since the coronavirus outbreak.