Aizawl has highest adoption of cashless payments for mobility services across in India: Report

Aizawl has the highest adoption of cashless payments for mobility services across cities in India, while Hyderabad leads the future of mobility among megacities, according to a report.

Even as Kolkata has the second highest adoption of cashless payments for different mobility services among megacities, no respondents using smartphones in the city use three or more applications for either mobility or delivery services in the city, said the OMI Foundation's Ease of Moving Index (EoMI) India Report 2022.

Among the 'promising cities', digital adoption has been limited in Jammu primarily due to the disruptions in internet and mobile network, and the absence of digital mobility services, it said.

"While respondents in Aizawl had the highest adoption of cashless payments for mobility across cities in all clusters, respondents in the other hill cities of Shimla and Kohima also use digital technology for delivery and payments extensively," the report added.

The report, based on responses from 50,488 people across 18 cities in India, found that a higher percentage of respondents used three or more on-demand delivery applications in Panaji, and more respondents in Bhubaneswar used three or more applications to commute, among the promising cities.

As for megacities, the report found that Hyderabad led the future of mobility "as it has the highest adoption of cashless payments for different mobility services".

While Kolkata has the second highest adoption of cashless payments for different mobility services, no respondents using smartphones in the city use three or more applications for either mobility or delivery services in the city, it added.

"Surat has the highest adoption of three or more applications for mobility and delivery services across the megacities," the report noted.

Among 'booming cities', Kanpur followed by Patna and Lucknow have the highest adoption of cashless payments for different mobility services, while Nagpur has a higher percentage of respondents using smartphones using three or more applications for different mobility and on-demand delivery services as compared to its peers in the cluster.

The report also found that Kochi held the greatest promise for the adoption of active and shared mobility, while Bhubaneswar shone in terms of providing a seamless mobility experience.

It further said Ahmedabad has the highest willingness to adopt electric vehicles, and public transport usage among women and the trans/non-binary population is the highest in Ludhiana.

Aizawl also emerged as a top performer in clean mobility, while Jabalpur has the lowest mobility expenditure, as per the report, which also revealed that Urban Centres were increasingly moving towards active and shared mobility.

"Active and shared mobility choices have emerged as one of the key enablers of sustainable mobility, which when paired with technological innovation holds the promise of revolutionising how Indian cities move," OMI Foundation Trustee Harish Abichandani said.