Ahmedabad mirrors metro behavior as offline digital adoption reaches 56%, with UPI transactions growing 28% year-over-year
- India’s Digital Shift: The Kearney–Amazon Pay study highlights rapid digital payments expansion, with retail digital transactions projected to cross $7 trillion by 2030.
- Rising adoption in large and mid-sized cities:56% of consumers in large and mid-sizedcities now prefer digital modes for offline purchases, narrowing the gap with metros (62%).
- West Region Momentum: The West region, including Gujarat, leads the country with one of the highest offline digital payment preferences at 60%.
- Amazon Pay Preference Grows:Across Gujarat, 1 in 4 customers now use Amazon Pay for purchases and bill payments, reflecting strong consumertrust.
GUJARAT, AHMEDABAD | 02nd DECEMBER 2025 — Gujarat is emerging as a high-growth digital payments market as consumers increasingly shift to UPI and cashless modes for everyday transactions. Insights from the How Urban India Pays 2025 report — based on a survey of over 6,000 customers across 120 cities — show that urban consumers in Ahmedabad exhibit digital payment behaviour that closely mirrors larger metros, driven by rising trust, familiarity and convenience-led adoption. Ahmedabad also ranks among the stronger DDPU (Degree of Digital Payment Usage)cities in the West, with customers displaying frequent, multi-category digital transaction behaviour and consistently high reliance on app-based and UPI-led payments. DDPU is a metric designed to measure the extent of digital payment adoption among various demographic groups.
Large cities like Ahmedabad are quickly closing the gap with major metros, driven by strong digital payment growth and increasing comfort with newer payment modes. Across the top six metros, digital payments account for 89% of online and 62% of offline purchases.Ahmedabad and mid-tier cities have already reached 56% offline digital adoption, reflecting how rapidly they are catching up. This rise is also consistent with the city’s higher DDPU trend, where customers are using digital payments more frequently, across more categories, and with greater confidence. With rising trust, greater familiarity, and continued growth in UPI and wallet usage, Gujarat’s shift toward cashless commerce will only accelerate—positioning Ahmedabad as an important hub in India’s evolving digital payments landscape.
“Ahmedabad’s surge in digital payments reflects a city ready to embrace modern financial experiences. Customers are choosing digital not out of necessity, but because they value speed, security, and transparency. What’s especially encouraging is the diversity of this shift—women, Gen Z, and Millennials are increasingly turning to credit cards, signalling a fast-accelerating adoption curve.
With this broad-based momentum and a rapidly expanding merchant ecosystem, Ahmedabad is emerging as one of West India’s most future-ready digital economies. At Amazon Pay, we’re committed to fuelling this progress with innovative, trusted, and frictionless payment solutions,” said Vikas Bansal, CEO, Amazon Pay India.
Amazon Pay mirrors this broader shift. As per survey by Kearney for the report, Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, including Ahmedabad, have emerged as primary growth engines, contributing over 70% of Amazon Pay’s digital spends, signalling deepening penetration beyond metros. Digital payments, led by UPI and wallets, now dominate everyday use cases such as groceries, medicines, utilities, and household essentials, driven by convenience, speed, and transparent experiences.
This momentum extends to the merchant ecosystem. Offline merchant payments from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities processed via Amazon Pay has surged significantly driven by growing adoption among local sellers, service providers, and neighbourhood stores. Ahmedabad’s higher DDPU profile is also reflected in merchant behaviour, with businesses increasingly accepting digital modes to match rising customer expectations. The city continues to lead this shift, supported by strong merchant onboarding, rising repeat usage, and increasing digital familiarity.Amazon Pay is also strengthening its presence in Gujarat, onboarding new merchants across major commercial hubs such as Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, and now Kadodara.
Amazon Pay’s performance in Ahmedabad further reflects this momentum, with the city recording over 10% YoY growth in overall transactions, driven by a strong 28.35% rise in UPI usage. This aligns with festive trends across Gujarat, where 1 in 4 customers used Amazon Pay instruments during the Amazon Great Indian Festival 2025, and UPI powered 1 in 4 orders, with an 11% increase in users. Ahmedabad’s digital-first buying behaviour is also evident from category trends, including an 8.5X surge in luxury beauty, a near 2X rise in overall beauty demand, and growing adoption across pet care, dairy and mobility accessories. This shift is further supported by the steady uptake of Amazon Pay products — the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card grew over 15% YoY, Amazon Pay Later by over 10%, underscoring rising comfort with trusted, rewards-led digital payment options.
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