Digital to cash: The changing way in which people pay for Delhi Metro rides

['Devansh Mittal', 'Devansh Mittal Is A Correspondent At The Indian Express', 'Based In The New Delhi City Bureau. He Reports On Urban Policy', 'Civic Governance', 'Infrastructure In The National Capital Region', 'With A Growing Focus On Housing', 'Land Policy', 'Transport', 'The Disruption Economy', 'Its Social Implications.'] The Indian Express 2026-07-29 21:19:22

Officials have attributed the digitisation push to a need to cut queues at counters and token vending machines, reduce cash handling, and enable interoperable travel through NCMC across Metro networks nationally. Nearly three-fourth of the revenue of Delhi Metro — the country’s largest Metro network — now comes from cashless transactions. This marks a reversal in trends eight years ago when income in cash accounted for almost three-fourth of its revenue, according to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) internal data, The Indian Express has learnt. In 2018, this split was almost the opposite with 77.93% cash transactions and 22.07% cashless earnings. Preference of average commuterNotwithstanding the shift, Smart Cards are preferred by around half of the Metro commuters, the data shows.