E-billing In India Expected To Grow By 200%
E-billing is fast catching up in the metros with average households saving up to 80 hours in a year according to this article in Mint. A recent study on “e-Billing – a better option for convenience” carried out by Assocham, puts the growth of the e-billing business at 200%, with revenues likely to touch Rs 6.5 million by 2008-09 from the current level of Rs 1.9 million.
Currently, the average Indian household in the top 10 Indian cities pays approximately 50 bills annually, in finance, insurance, telecommunication and utility-based companies, besides the usual electricity, water, house tax and other civic levies. Match that with India’s Internet population currently at over 100 million and expected to grow to 125 million by 2008-09, and you have a winner. Service providers like Airtel in fact, have already started mobile payment of their bills.
Key Findings:
- 28% of Mumbai’s population availed of e-billing transactions followed by 22% of Delhi, 12.5% of Chennai, 12% of Bangalore, and 5.2% of Hyderabad.
- Interestingly, 14% of the online payers accesses the internet from mobile phones.
- 75% of cell phone bills are paid online, 73% owners of landline telephones, 70% of credit card bills and 60% of electricity bills. 45% pay insurance premium and 42% pay internet access bills online, while 29% pay for their magazine subscriptions online.
- 64% of the online bill payers are executives (including junior, middle and senior levels).
- Interestingly, 57% of online bill payers also shop online, while 33% trade stocks online, and 28% participate in online bidding. 80% use online banking. There are quite a few marketing synergies here.
Filed under: Business, Digital culture, India