Study: Contactless mobile payment set to grow

NFC-enabled contactless mobile payments, such as those enabled by smartphone-based digital wallet services like Apple Pay and Android Pay, currently make up a tiny fraction of card transactions. However, a new study from Indian mobile solutions provider Mahindra Comviva suggests contactless mobile payments are set to grow quickly.



With the global growth of mobile POS systems, from 2015 to 2018, contactless mobile transactions have the potential to reach 4% to 5% of retail payments, with growth in transaction volume accelerating after 2020. Total sales of mobile POS hardware in 2014 amounted to around 10 million devices.



The study also indicates that cards will account for 273 billion global transactions at a combined value of $30 trillion by 2018.