Japan-based mobile payments company PayPay announced rapid user growth for its service since launch in October, with more than a million retailers signed-up to use the service.

PayPay, which is a joint venture between SoftBank, Paytm and Yahoo Japan, launched in October 2018. As of 8 August, it said it had processed more than 100 million transactions across its merchant footprint.

In a translated statement, the company said its uptake level was the result partly of its own promotional campaigns and initiatives to promote cashless transactions by third parties, national and local authorities. It now aims to increase the number of outlets accepting the system to further boost adoption.

On unveiling plans for the service in July 2018 SoftBank said it wanted the platform to become the leading smartphone payment system in Japan, a country where 80 per cent of transactions at the time were made using physical currency.

Authorities in Japan have set a target to reduce the proportion of transactions made using coins and notes to 60 per cent by 2025.

PayPay is not the only scheme aiming to take advantage of the planned cashless revolution, with several major corporations including Line and NTT Docomo also making a play the sector.