In a monthly first, UPI transactions cross 11 billion milestone in October
People are making seamless payments from mobile in real-time with UPI
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has consistently achieved remarkable milestones in terms of transaction volume. Each month, UPI surpasses its previous records, attributed to the continuous introduction of new features and use-cases by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), aimed at promoting digital transactions. There has been a notable increase in transactions during October, particularly due to the festive season
In a record of sorts, UPI reported over 1,141 crore transactions in October for an overall transaction value of Rs 17.16 lakh crore, as per NPCI’s data.
On a month-on-month basis, transactions rose eight per cent from 1,056 crore in September, while value of the transactions grew 8.6 per cent from Rs 15.8 lakh crore.
The NPCI has set its sights on achieving 100 billion monthly transactions in the near future, underlining its ambitious growth plans.
Digital payments in the country continued their growth momentum in October, with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions crossing the 1,100 crore mark for the first time.
People are making seamless payments from mobile in real-time with UPI.
Talking to Bizz Buzz, Sunil Rongala, senior Vice-president, Head – Strategy, Innovation & Analytics, Worldline India, says, “UPI is a huge success and will grow bigger. The number of transactions in January 2018 was 151 million and it reached 11 billion in October 2023. It will be no surprise if UPI transactions hit 20 billion a month in the next 18-24 months.”
What has made this growth sustainable and will be the driver going forward is the growth in Person-to-Merchant (P2M) transactions.
On a month-on-month basis, transactions rose eight per cent from 1,056 crore in September, while value of the transactions grew 8.6 per cent from Rs 15.8 lakh crore.
On a year-on-year basis, UPI achieved 55 per cent increase in transaction volume and a 42 per cent growth in transaction value.
“Over 11 billion UPI transactions were done in October 2023! People are making seamless payments from mobile in real-time with UPI (sic),” Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said on X.
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has consistently achieved remarkable milestones in terms of transaction volume. Each month, UPI surpasses its previous records, attributed to the continuous introduction of new features and use-cases by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), aimed at promoting digital transactions. There has been a notable increase in transactions during October, particularly due to the festive season. This surge is attributed to heightened consumer engagement, especially in the e-commerce sector.
Mandar Agashe, founder and Managing Director of Sarvatra Technologies, says. “Consumers are increasingly opting for UPI payments due to its unparalleled convenience and the security it offers. In Tier II and beyond towns, UPI has played a pivotal role in narrowing the gap in financial inclusion.”
For the vast number of Indians now embracing digital transactions, it has become an indispensable part of their daily lives as micro-transactions have become possible due to UPI.
UPI reached the 1,000 crore transactions milestone for the first time in August and maintained the momentum in September.
In September this year, PhonePe maintained its leading position in the UPI market with 497.2 crore transactions valued at Rs 7.7 lakh crore. Google Pay, Paytm and CRED were behind in terms of monthly UPI transactions, highlighting the competitive landscape in the Indian digital payments sector.
In an effort to further increase the adoption of UPI both in India and on a global scale, the Union Government has been working on expanding the functionalities of the payments interface.
A significant development in this regard was RBI’s decision to allow scheduled commercial banks to extend credit lines to their customers through UPI.
The NPCI has set its sights on achieving 100 billion monthly transactions in the near future, underlining its ambitious growth plans. As part of this, it recently unveiled diverse UPI innovations at the Global Fintech Fest 2023, including credit line access, NFC-based offline payment options UPI LITE X and Tap & Pay, and conversational payment solutions Hello! UPI and BillPay Connect.
UPI has also gone global, extending its reach to France, Bhutan, Nepal, the UAE, and Canada. India is also in discussions with New Zealand and various South American and African nations to introduce the UPI payment interface in those regions, indicating its growing international influence in the digital payments space.
However, there have been some concerns about the UPI. Despite UPI’s remarkable growth, it has not proven to be a lucrative revenue source for fintech companies. The cost of UPI transactions is shared by acquirer apps and banks, adding to the financial burden for payments apps.
